


Don’t kill yourself! Just stick it!

by noo



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternative Universe - Olympics, Community: st_xi_kink, Developing Relationship, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Kidnapping, M/M, Masturbation, Non-Graphic Violence, Other, Resolved Sexual Tension, Semi-Public Sex, Threesome - F/M/M, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-14
Updated: 2012-09-19
Packaged: 2017-11-12 03:10:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 43,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/486012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noo/pseuds/noo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim Kirk did actually listen while the Olympic Charter was recited to him - <i>Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.</i></p><p>Being an athlete at the Olympics makes it hard to live up to these principles, especially when you have your father’s footsteps to follow, a growing awareness of your best friend, an antagonistic relationship with your assistant coach, one angry romanian trying to cause havoc, oh and a few gold medals to win. Jim Kirk didn’t believe in no-win situations but he was about to be put to the test.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Saturday 28 to Sunday 29 July, 2012

**Author's Note:**

> The pairings/warnings are specific for chapters posted only. The entire fic is around 43,000 words.

Gaila Oriana flicked her hair back over her shoulder as she flashed her athletes pass and winked at the harassed looking door attendant on her way into the North Greenwich Arena 1, more commonly known as the O2 to the locals. These were the Olympics and no sponsorship was supposed to sully them, unless they were any of the ‘official’ ones, then they could claim anything and everything instead. The poor boy blushed as he went back to directing the public that were trying to get in to their seats for the preliminaries of the Men's team comp.

Gaila noted the looks she was receiving when her U.S. team tracksuit top combined with the athlete’s pass hanging around her neck was spotted. The pointing fingers, followed swiftly by the cameras and mobile phones that flashed up to get a shot of an Olympic athlete, even if most of them had no idea who she was. She laughed and passed a flirty look back over her shoulder at the elderly man who was being admonished by his wife as he tried to get a shot of her, both of their faces painted with the Union Jack on their cheeks. She turned away and headed for the athletes section. No reserved seat for her in that area, but her roommate had promised to save her one.

She paused as she stood at the top of the stairs, looking out over the Arena that had now been transformed into a gymnastics venue. There were raised platforms with each apparatus located on top and the judges tables in their prime viewing positions, so they could decide who was worthy and who wasn't. Gaila tossed a sneering look at those tables. The one thing all gymnasts hated almost more than their coaches would have to be the judges.

There was a faint smoky look to the arena. The ever-present layer of chalk that just hung around, which was constantly being replenished as it settled on the blue of the mats and the garish pink and purple podiums, leaving a fine layer of dust on all the equipment. Already there were white marks on the previously pristine blue of the floor, where the teams had left their marks after warming up. There, to the far right of the floor area, were the banks for the Officials and the Head Judges.

Below the Athletes seating section was the media, all with their headsets on and, in some cases, binoculars trained on the those already on the floor. The Floor Manager was walking around, talking on his headset, giving directions and checking his watch and stopwatch constantly. Gaila noted her increase in heart rate. This might be an Artistic comp and she still had another week and a half before her own started, but it was the Olympic Games and it was Gymnastics’ turn for the spotlight.

In the Athletes section, a dark head turned, pony tail flicking out and around as long-lashed eyes spotted Gaila. The woman waved and indicated the spare seat next to her. That pony tail had narrowly missed the Belorussian boy sitting directly behind her and the woman who the pony tail belonged to was oblivious to the damage she had nearly caused. Gaila smiled as she waved back and headed down the stairs, waving at various acquaintances on the other teams she spotted as she walked. Gaila observed the boy and, looking at his even tinier stature than most MAG boys, deduced he had to be Tramp. The poor boy seemed to be seriously reconsidering his seat behind the so-called reigning Ice Princess of WAG. Gaila knew her better.

"Sorry I'm late. T'Pring was after me to check my music, again. I mean, really! I swear she just didn't want me to come and watch those 'over-hyped and over-coached muscle boys with too much sense of entitlement'. Apparently it isn't logical to admire their packages in tight lycra!" Gaila said as she plonked herself down into the seat, wincing at the cold plastic feel of it.

"I am sure it isn't logical that she allowed you out of uniform too, or did you rush back to the room to change after she checked you?" Nyota asked pointedly as she glanced down at the figure hugging leggings that encased Gaila's long legs. One delicately arched eyebrow lifted as she noted the green leg warmers that Gaila had on as well.

"You and your logic!" Gaila laughed. "I have my pass and I have my tracksuit top on. Sitting here, who is going to see my legs?" she asked as she lifted one up in the air, dexterously maneuvering it in the tight space between her chair, the row in front and the French woman seated on her left side. Her movement displayed the flexibility that Rhythmic Gymnasts were often derided for by the rest of the gymnastics community. She noted that most of the male contingent around seemed to be enjoying her display, making her even more hated amongst the various WAG females.

Gaila smiled as she noticed Nyota turn away, humphing her displeasure at Gaila, but a hint of a smile around her lips. As she lowered her leg, she looked down to see the Men’s team on the vault run-up right below their section. One of the team was looking right up at her, smiling broadly. She smiled right back and waved.

"Will you stop distracting the team," Nyota hissed. "It's bad enough that you've already managed to work your way through most of the other teams, but now Jim Kirk? I can't believe Captain Pike got his way and our glory rests on Kirk's shoulders."

"Well, all these fit, lovely boys. I'm so allowed to check them out. Kirk daring to hit on you when he first joined Starfleet Academy still gets to you, doesn't it?" Gaila asked smugly, watching as Kirk turned around and started stretching out again, with his ass facing right up toward her. Her face broke into a wide grin at the pert display from Jim.

The Men’s assistant coach wandered over and started having 'words' with Jim. The animosity between the two was well known even to the Rhythmic Team. Pike made them work together regularly though, and no one went against the Captain's words.

"Oh, look, your lover boy is ruining my display," Gaila pointed out.

"He's not my 'lover boy'," Nyota hissed back, eyes darting around to see if anyone else was listening in to their conversation.

"Fine. Boyfriend. Whatever," Gaila waved airily, but she kept her voice low in order to be mindful of how uncomfortable Nyota was about her relationship with a coach. Gaila was happy to tease Nyota about the matter but didn't want her to be hurt by the judgmental nature of others.

Even from up in the stands, Gaila could see the eye roll that Jim was performing at Spock's retreating back. She looked away from Jim and towards the start of the runway where Hikaru Sulu was leaning forward to laugh at something Pavel Chekov was saying to him as he flexed his feet on the floor. The skinny little boy with his adorable curls looked like the vault could break him, but she knew better. There was tensile strength in those arms and power in the legs. Who better than a Rhythmic Gymnast to know that even in a body that looked like it could easily snap in half in a strong wind, that there was great hidden strength?

As Pavel stood and said something quietly in return to Hikaru, she wondered if today was going to be the day that the pair of them would forget that there was 16,000 plus other people in the arena and turn a manly, friendly slap or hug into something a bit more. Jim had laughed at her suggestion that Hikaru and ‘widdle’ Pavel were more than friends, but then he got a look on his face that told her he was remembering things from training that were making him reconsider.

On the far side of the run-up was Cupcake, aka Caden Burly. His physique proclaimed he was a rings specialist. He had once tried to get Gaila to see if she could wrap her hands around his biceps. She had kindly offered to use her rope instead, around his neck. His animosity to Jim and anyone who sided with him was well known. Pike kept him on a very short leash, but his ring work was outstanding, so he stayed on the team. Luckily his current best buddy and partner in crime, Finnegan, had been put in his place by Jim at the last Olympics trial. Nyota had once commented that she thought that Cupcake would have made an excellent nightclub bouncer.

Acting as a buffer between Cupcake and the rest of the team was Kevin Riley. A slimish attractive blond that Gaila had enjoyed a very pleasant summer break with, getting to know a whole lot better. He wasn't as cocky as most of the MAG boys and they had remained good friends when they invariably parted.

Next she looked towards Gary Mitchell, who was sitting down on the chairs along the wall. He wouldn't be called up to vault, luckily for the team's sake. He was a good solid performer on most of the apparatus but last year during the National trials he had confessed to Gaila that vault scared the bejebus out of him. It was the way, he said, that as you were legging it down the runway, the front of the table got bigger and bigger until it was all you could see and then you invariably hit it. Gary's feet, clad in socks and his slip on sandals were twitching nervously on the floor. although he was trying to hide it under the cocky veneer that was almost as bad as Jim’s. That footwear combination always made Gaila laugh under her breath every time a MAG boy walked past her with the sound of muffled flaps against their feet. Sitting next to Gary and talking quietly to him was the U.S. Gymnastics team doctor.

The good Dr. McCoy. Leonard. Gaila liked his name. Especially when he said it in his delicious Southern accent. T'Pring had accused her once of faking injuries so that she could flirt with the doctor. It was scary how well her coach knew her. Leonard knew that she didn't mean anything by her flirting, because gymnast and team official relationships were a big no no. As she considered this, she flicked a glance toward her roommate, who was watching the team below but one of the coaches intently.

Gaila's attention was drawn back to the fine doctor very quickly. He knew how to flirt right back, although Gaila had picked up that there was something unhappy in his past. There were rumors running rife through the Academy that he had been married and it hadn't ended well. It was odd for a gymnast and an official to share a room, but he and Jim had hit it off the moment the pair of them walked through the door after being discovered by Pike. Dr. McCoy seemed to be one of the few that could boss Jim around almost as well as Pike could. Before Leonard started to room with Jim, Jim had been gaining a fast friendship with Gary and while Gaila liked Gary, he was lazy and more inclined to find ways to cheat his way around training, and Leonard distracted Jim away from Gary.

Pike had snapped at the gymnasts on the runway and they were now all serious business, chalking up and pacing out their strides. Spock was noting the placements of their start positions on his ever present clipboard. Then Hikaru, Jim, Pavel, Cupcake and Kevin all ran through their vaults for the evening. Each one earned a quiet nod from Pike before they slipped on their shoes, and collected their bags and tracksuits before leaving the arena. Their practice was all done, so it was back to the warm up gym for final run-throughs and a Pike pep talk. 

Gaila checked her watch and then leaned down to pick up the bag of grapes from her bag under her chair, tossing it Nyota before grabbing another one for herself.

"Eat up, or Number One will get pissed," Gaila said.

Nyota laughed as she opened up the bag and popped a grape in her mouth. "So Number One got to you when T'Pring was there as well?" Nyota asked.

"Yeah, some media were all over those comments about my ball routine on rsg.net from last years Worlds. So they were having a confab and advising me how to answer if the media bring it up with me," Gaila said as she chewed on her grape.

"Ah, the 'just give that girl a pole' comments," Nyota replied. "Did they ever get a reply from the mods about that?"

"It got taken down, but I think T'Pring was more upset about it than me. I mean, really, it was just some Canadians pissed that I was outscoring their girls and tied up the North American Wild card. If they were complaining about my routines being too 'sexual' they never did watch their own Yana Tsikaridze! God, she used to strut onto the floor and show off her curves. Well, as many curves as we ever get. I loved watching her routines. Remember those vids I showed you of the Russian juniors? What Viner did to those kids is disgusting. At least I am of age and seriously, my music was Blue Drag, there is only one way to accurately express that music!" Gaila popped another grape into her mouth as she smiled cheekily at Nyota.

"Lovely routine it is too," a heavily accented voice said from the seats immediately behind them.

Gaila turned her body in the chair to smile at the young man in the Belarusian team uniform. He held his hand out towards her, "Aliaksandr, I am. You are the lovely Gaila, I have seen you perform before."

Gaila extended a hand to the boy in return, who didn't look like he was more than 15, she thought, even though he had to be to be here. "Well aren't you just lovely. Poor you though, stuck here early like me to watch those that look down their noses at us, hmm?"

"Don't think it was Kirk's nose he was looking down at you from," Nyota said _sotto voce_.

Gaila took her hand back from Aliaksandr, turning in her chair to face towards the Arena floor and smiled gleefully at her room mate. "Well I am glad that he doesn't have a big nose, but I can assure you that the rest of him is beautifully proportioned. I do like a well muscled man. Slim also has its advantages, but, for the moment, nice, thick, strong muscles are quite delightful!"

"You mainly seem to prefer them to be simply male from what I understand," Nyota said pointedly as she popped another grape into her mouth, her well manicured nails with their gold polish flashing under the strong lighting in the arena.

Gaila laughed. "True," she responded. "Boys do come in many fun packages."

Their conversation was halted as the announcer started his spiel, indicating the start of the last qualifiers for the men's team. Both Gaila and Nyota sat up straighter and Nyota pulled a flag out from her bag, passing one end of it to Gaila. Then the teams were being led out by the volunteers. Gaila smiled again at the loping, relaxed strides of the boys, so different to the poised and stuck up nature of the march-ons of WAG or Rhythmic.

As the U.S. Team paraded past the athletes section, Gaila and Uhura jumped up to cheer, waving the flag between them like two demented idiots. Gaila loved to see Nyota let her hair down like this. Just as Jim and Dr. McCoy got odd looks for their friendship, Nyota and herself were also considered to be a case of strange bedfellows. They just worked together really well. Gaila didn't jell at all with the other RG girls. She thought it was mainly because of her flirty nature and that her family was all involved in Artistic Gymnastics that it was so odd for her to have chosen to do Rhythmic. Neither discipline really accepted her, except Nyota who was her first real friend and never judged her interest in the males of the species, even with all the teasing comments back and forth between them. Gaila knew there was no malice, just a confusion at how easily Gaila could change interest from one person to the next. Nyota also never picked on her sport as the other artistic girls were wont to do.

oOo

The next two hours sped by, with Gaila and Nyota keeping close tabs on the scores and alternating between madly cheering for the boys and grumpily acknowledging that the Chinese and Japanese were again very strong. Even Cupcake got a standing ovation from them after he stuck his double back dismount off rings. Nyota had to leave before the last two rotations as she would be competing tomorrow and was also making sure to leave before Number One started calling. Gaila waved goodbye to her, before draping the flag back over her legs and watching the competition intently. She stood to cheer the boys off the floor, after they finished the qualifications just in second place behind the Chinese, waving madly as they spotted her and Jim blew her a kiss.

The crowd thinned out very quickly as the audience headed back to their hotels and homes, leaving behind the hard working volunteers who were starting the clean up and resetting of the gym. Galia laughed at the small argument that was happening in front of the p-bars between Scotty, the Equipment Manager, and his assistant Keenser. Scotty was well known to all the gymnasts due to his friendly face and his brilliant ability at fixing anything to do with the equipment and that delightful accent that Gaila loved to listen to. Although, Scotty seemed to keep well away from Jonathon Archer, the President of the Men's Tech Committee and the Men’s Competition Director here. There was a history there that Gaila had yet to work out, but she would get to the bottom of the mystery eventually.

Gaila caught up with a few of the other late hangers-on from the other teams, before one of the volunteers came along to shoo them away. She headed toward the training gym with some of the Russians that she knew, hoping to catch the boys still in the training gym along with a ride back to the village.

She entered the gym to see Pike talking quietly to Spock off to the side, while the guys were packing up their stuff. The only one not moving was Jim, as he sat with his arm stretched out while Leonard was checking it. On the other side of the gym the paramedics were still around the U.K. contingent and Greg Olson, the great white hope of the locals. He’d had a very nasty fall off the p-bars, which Gaila was very glad she didn't witness first-hand, refusing to watch the replays on the screens of the media contingent. All the other competitors had leaned forward to get a better view, but she hated to see injuries, especially in gymnastics where most could result in paralysis or even, as in the case of Jim's dad, death. She moved swiftly over to Spock and Pike, standing off to the side from the rest, and making sure that she stayed just out of range of their voices, she waited patiently for them to finish their conversation.

Spock was the first to notice her. "Good evening, Miss Oriana. I trust you are well?" he asked.

"I am very well after watching our boys perform most admirably, Mr. Spock," she replied, knowing just which words to use to please him. She turned to Captain Pike, and asked, "is it okay if I catch a ride back in the bus, Captain?" Her tone and body language towards these two men was noticeably lacking in her normal flirtatious manner.

"Of course, Gaila. T'Pring would be most upset with me if I left you here. She said training went well for you today," Pike replied to her.

"Nice to hear she thought so, sir. If I make top 20 we shall count it as a glorious achievement. I think you have your work cut out for you against China and Japan, but if anyone can beat them it will be us. I shall leave you two to continue planning their downfall." Gaila waved goodbye as she left the two coaches to approach the team. Kevin received a kiss on the cheek from her and a quiet word. Gary was in discussion with Cupcake so she just waved in their direction and then stepped over to hip-bump into Hikaru, who was having one of his regular animated discussions with Pavel.

"Hey Hikaru, nice p-bars tonight," she said as she pushed her hip gently into his.

Hikaru turned and gave her a quick hug. "If you hadn't of been up there with Uhura cheering like demented chipmunks then I wouldn't have been inspired to perform that well!"

"Totally, it was all my cheering and had nothing to do with Pike scaring the crap out of you all for the last three years," she smirked. "Hey Pavel," she greeted the baby of the team.

"I know, I know!" he said, his voice displaying his strong Russian accent, even though he had been born in America. "My pommels was crap, I will fix tomorrow at training. I am so mad at myself."

Before Gaila could respond to Pavel's self-recriminations, Pike was calling them all to leave for the bus. Gaila linked her arms with Hikaru on one side and Pavel on the other. She smiled over at Jim, who was having one of his 'discussions' with Leonard, whereby the doctor was probably telling him to be careful, and Jim was ignoring the advice. Jim winked at her and she returned it, then she was leaving the training gym and heading out to the cool, brisk evening of London in July.

Waiting outside were a few die-hard fans, some even recognized her and asked for autographs and photos. Leonard threw his hands up in disgust at the young girl who had removed her jacket so that Jim could sign her skin. Gaila laughed at Leonard as he marched over to the bus and entered it, his disapproval obvious with every step he took. Jim excused himself from the latest autograph hunter when Pike called his name and jogged over to the bus, jumping effortlessly up onto the step before hailing the three of them still signing autographs.

Pavel and Gaila pulled Hikaru away from the small group of fans and rushed over to the bus, where Pike was standing with that look on his face that gave them all a silent lecture on how disappointed he was in their tardiness.

"Sorry, Captain," they each mumbled before entering the bus.

Gaila entered first and noted the spare double seat, but left that option for the two boys behind her. At the very back of the bus were Leonard and Jim. Jim smiled as he patted the seat vacant between the pair of them. She walked past Cupcake and Kevin, left Gary in his single against the window, iPod in his ears and eyes closed and plonked down between the doctor and U.S. gymnastics rising star. She fastened the seat belt and tossed a look at Jim as she felt his fingers play with her hair. He hadn't even bothered to hide his arm along the back of the seat with the old ‘yawn and stretch’ move. He was James T. Kirk and had never bothered to hide his interest. She and Jim were very alike in that matter.

"Nice leg warmers," Jim said, as he slowly looked down her legs.

She stretched one out, all the better for him to see. "Yes, they are, aren't they?" she archly replied.

Leonard was resolutely looking out the window of the bus, the yellow glow from the street lights illuminating the tense look on his face as the bus moved away from the venue. Gaila reached her hand out to touch gently at his leg.

"Hi, Leonard," she said quietly. "Any news on Olson?"

Leonard had turned quickly at her touch. Once he realised it was Gaila who had interrupted his musing, he smiled. "Doesn't sound good. I know they were going to send him off for scans tonight. But he is definitely out for the rest of the Games. How's that ankle of yours?"

Jim leaned over her to smile at Leonard, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Leonard, is it?" he asked.

Gaila looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, "Yes, Leonard. It _is_ his name and I think it is lovely and not at all common, like Jim." She looked back at Leonard, ignoring Jim. "My ankle isn't bad, but you could come to training tomorrow to inspect it properly?" she invited.

"Gaila, darlin', I would love to, but I have to be back at Arena 1 for the Women's qualifications," he declined her invitation but kept smiling at her, seeming to be mostly amused at the put-upon expression on Jim's face because they were both ignoring him. "Plus heaven knows what Pike has planned for this mob too, 'cause certain people didn't perform at their optimum tonight.”

"Hey!" Jim protested, "we qualified the team, Sulu and I made All round final and I think we got in most of the Event finals that Pike had anticipated as well. Way to harsh the squee, Bones!"

"See, that's what I mean!" Gaila said. "Leonard is a perfectly good name, and you, James T. Kirk, God's gift to gymnastics, just have to give him a ridiculous nickname. Now the good doctor is right, you could have done better tonight. Just 'cause you didn't, Pike and Spock are going to drag your asses into the gym tomorrow and poor Leonard is going to miss out on visiting me and seeing all the lovely positions that the human body can get into, instead of having to watch muscle boys attempt to be graceful. Well, apart from Pavel, 'cause he knows how to point his toes."

Jim moved his free arm forward and flexed his bicep. "I seem to remember you being quite appreciative of my muscles last week," he said. "But she's right Bones, I do love to watch her train and if I were you, I would tell Pike that it is imperative to make sure that T'Pring isn't working her too hard before her comp, even if she can get her body into positions most people haven't dreamed of. Got to give a good showing for the good ol' U. S of A." Jim had dropped his arm to rest it on Gaila's leg, his thumb rubbing up and down in a minute movement. "If you do, you gotta invite me along, man. Maybe I'll tell Pike that I am thinking about going into studying medicine and I need to follow you around everywhere."

Leonard laughed. "If you think that excuse will hash with Pike, let alone Spock, you are as dumb as Cupcake thinks you are!"

"Don't you already follow him around everywhere?" Gaila asked Jim.

"I do not!" Jim protested. "He follows me."

Before Leonard could respond, the bus was pulling into the village. Gaila noticed Jim sitting back into his seat, facing the front. She knew that Pike would be turning around to give them all instructions before heading to their rooms. Jim didn't remove his arm from along the back of the seat, though and continued to play with her hair.

Kevin had leaned over to poke Gary awake, the guy was good at dropping off to sleep anywhere. Pavel and Hikaru were sitting straight up like two little school boys awaiting instructions. Sure enough, Pike told them that their snacks would be waiting for them in their rooms and to head there asap. Also that tomorrow there would be instructions sent to their emails about the time for training, so to check them first thing. Then they were all heading out of the bus; Leonard, Gaila and Jim the last to leave. Spock was standing off to the side and raised an eyebrow at the sight of the three of them heading toward their apartment block section.

As they entered the elevator, Leonard hit the floor four button. Jim reached over and pressed the button for Gaila's floor. At Leonard's raised eyebrow Jim responded, "I'll just walk Gaila to her door," he said.

"Sure you will, Jim," Bones replied resolutely staring straight ahead. "You heard Pike, straight to your room was the order. If your ass isn't back in there in ten minutes, I'll go get Spock."

"Don't worry Leonard, I'll be done with him in five minutes," Gaila interjected. "He's all smelly, sweaty and chalky." 

"Hey!" Jim protested.

The elevator doors opened on floor four and Leonard got out, laughing. "See you in five, Jim."

"Yeah, yeah," Jim agreed as the doors slid shut. He moved into Gaila's personal space, pressing her up against the stainless steel railing of the elevator wall as it started moving again. "I'm smelly and sweaty, hmm?" he asked as he nuzzled the space below her ear that he knew made her shiver.

"Yes," Gaila moaned, before tilting her head and directing his mouth where she wanted it, onto hers. Gaila knew Jim well and didn't start with a soft touch or gentle caress. Jim liked his kisses to be aggressive and forthright, so that is what she gave him. 

Jim pulled her out of the elevator, when the doors opened on her floor. Neither broke the kiss as Jim walked her back in the direction of her door, one hand tangled in her soft curls, the other holding onto his jacket and her hip. He broke away from the kiss with reluctance when he reached her door. "Your stop, I believe."

Gaila looked at the door, behind which she knew that Nyota would be, fast asleep in preparation for tomorrow, then back at Jim with his pink pouty lips, swollen and glistening from kissing her. She could see the leotard that he had removed from his upper body, visible under his t-shirt and bunched around his waist. She looked toward the end of the corridor and, turning back to Jim, grabbed his hand and pulled him down to the lounge area at the far end, which had a view out onto the communal square.

She darted around the side of the small lounge area and backed along the wall, so that anyone walking down the corridor would not know they were there. She dropped her bag onto the floor and grabbed at Jim's face with both her hands to drag him forward into another torrid kiss. Jim took the hint and dropped his tracksuit top and his bag onto the floor alongside hers, pressing her into the wall. Gaila slid her hands off of Jim's face to wrap her arms around his shoulders and pull him closer. She moved her leg up to wrap around his ass and, with the strength that many underestimated in her, pulled his groin toward hers. Jim wrapped a hand under her thigh and pressed it back into the wall. Gaila smiled into the kiss as she straightened her leg, knowing that Jim got a kick out of how flexible she was. Jim moved his kisses from her mouth to trail down her neck.

"I really like those leg warmers," he murmured around kisses, as he pushed the collar of her top aside so he could attack her neck.

"No marks," she ordered.

"I know," he responded, pausing before glancing up at her and smirking. "Gumby."

Gaila responded by wrapping her leg around his shoulders to hold him in place with all her body, and remind him exactly what she was capable of. "What was that?"

"Well you are green and bendy, so Gumby," Jim said. "Thought I would give you a nickname to fit in with Bones."

"Does that make you Pokey?" Gaila asked as she flexed her hips forward slightly, one eyebrow raising in amusement at the gasp she withdrew from Jim.

"I would love to stay and prove to you that I am most definitely Pokey, but well, tomorrow?" he asked. 

Gaila laughed. "Only you could turn a children's show porny. Maybe," she offered. "Or maybe I might like to go along and cheer my teammates, which you should totally be doing too, as they came along to support you."

Jim let go of her leg as he stepped away. "Yeah, maybe. I'll call you tomorrow." He stepped back in to press a quick kiss to her lips.

"Off you go, back to 'your Bones'," Gaila waggled her eyebrows.

"Hey! I saw the way you were looking at our doctor. No touching the officials, they are out of bounds," Jim waggled his finger at her.

"I'm a good girl, I won't step on your property, unless he wants to be stepped on with you," she said.

"If that is the way it is, I'll just ask him when I get back," Jim smirked. "I'm sure we could treat you right."

Gaila smacked him on the shoulder in mock horror. "Go on, get! You better run before Leonard calls Spock on you."

Jim smiled as he grabbed his stuff off the floor and then was running for the stairwell to head back to his room for the evening.

Gaila stayed where she was as she tried to calm herself down from her state of arousal.

It didn't work so, she slipped her hand down her body and into her leggings, thinking of the possibility of a _menage a trois_ with Jim and Leonard. The images of being pressed up between the doctor with his long slender fingers and, yes, she had noticed his well endowed package, and the strong, thickly muscled build of Jim was enough to make her already wet panties even wetter. Hazel eyes on one side and ice blue on the other. She imagined the idea of their hands on her body, Jim fondling her breasts and Leonard her ass as they kissed each other above her, tongues tangling, intent on possessing each other and she was coming quicker than than she anticipated. She kept her eyes closed as she slowly came back to herself, breaths evening out. She released her bottom lip from where she had bit it to muffle her cries of release, licking over it with her tongue to soothe the hurt.

She slid her hand out of her leggings, bringing her hand up to smell her own scent, smiling that soft smile of release as she bent to pick up her bag and return to her room. Her smile got wider as she reached towards her pass to swipe her into the room, Jim had been in a worse state than her when he left, those pants of his in no way hid his erection and he was heading back to a roommate who was wide awake. She might just have to see about helping Jim with his frustration issues tomorrow.

oOo

As Jim swiped himself into his room, he had his top and his bag, ready to dump them on the table by the door and head straight into the bathroom.

"You're a minute late," Bones called out as he heard the door open.

"Yeah, yeah," Jim replied as he entered the bathroom.

"Hey!" Bones yelled at him. "Food first!"

"In a bit," Jim yelled back as he started to strip off his clothes. He dumped them on the floor by the door, grabbed his towel to hang over the edge of the shower stall and reached in to turn on the water. One hand stretched out to test the temperature of the water and the other wrapped around his cock, slowly stroking up and down. When the heat felt just right, Jim stepped in and closed the glass door behind him. He raised his head up, closed his eyes and let the water run down his face. He just concentrated on the feel of his hand gliding across his sensitive flesh.

His mind started to wander, pondering what Gaila had said earlier about Bones. The image of their room, blinds drawn and one lamp illuminating the room was clear in his head. Jim imagined himself seated in a chair under that lamp, looking at the nearest bed. On that bed were the naked figures of Gaila and Bones. Gaila had her head thrown back, red curls tousled and spread out underneath her. Long arms and sensuous fingers trailing down the solid back of Bones, as one of her legs was lifted and wrapped around Bones' waist. Jim's imagination then moved onto Bones, the way that his hips would snap forward as he glided into the wet heat of Gaila. She was moaning at each press forward, the little breathy moans that Jim knew very well. His eyes drifted back to watch the clenching of the muscles in Bones' ass as he sped up his movements.

Jim's fantasy was being greatly helped by the fact he had seen both the stars of this little show naked in real life. He hadn't seen Bones hard or in the throes of passion--and wasn't that just a stupid saying, but he had wandered into their joint bathroom back at the Academy a number of times, early in the morning, while Bones was still in the shower. Luckily he was secure enough in his own body image that he wasn't threatened by Bones' impressive size. He was damned sure that if Bones was up for Gaila's suggestion then she would be very pleased with the results.

Jim struggled to hold back his cries as he sped up the movements on his cock, in time with the movements of his dream Bones. His other hand slapped onto the tiled wall to help hold himself up as the couple on the bed writhed toward their completion. Bones raised his head from where he had been sucking on Gaila's neck to stare at Jim, sitting in the chair wanking to their movements. His hazel eyes intense before his lids dropped closed, his head dropped back and those pouty Angelina Jolie lips of his opened to allow his cry of release to escape. The image of Bones coming was enough for Jim, and he released his own cry as he spurted over his hand, his come spurting onto the glass wall of the shower. He knew he was going to have to try and clean it up in a bit before Bones could bitch about how disgusting it was. First he released his cock and washed away the remaining spunk, before splashing water onto the screen to make the rest of it flow down and then to the drain.

Jim finished his shower, stretching out his muscles under the warmth of the water. He considered that he probably should have adjusted the temperature to something a bit colder, as the lactic acid build up would be hell to sort out tomorrow. He brushed his teeth, collected his clothes from the floor and walked out into the bedroom, towel wrapped securely around his waist.

"You know, I think the Germans three doors down didn't hear you. Next time you need to jerk off, try for a bit louder. I'm sure the rest of the floor needed to hear you at midnight," Bones said as he resolutely stared at the book open on his lap as he lounged on his bed.

Jim dumped his clothes on his bed, reached into the drawer and pulled out a pair of cotton boxers. He sniffed them before dropping the towel and pulling them on.

"You only gave me ten minutes and the lovely Gaila is, well, lovely," Jim replied. He then set about hanging his tracksuit up in the wardrobe and tossing his leotard and shorts into the wash basket. He emptied his comp bag, putting back the spare set of uniform. "Considering that they ran out of condoms after the first week of Sydney, I gather that the majority of our roommates would be making the most of the free ones given out here right at this moment. The only reason they haven't run out yet is that they ordered three times as many. I checked it out too. The IOC's budget for condoms is more than some countries export costs for a whole year! Yet here are you and I, on a Saturday night, and what are we doing? Not using any of those lovely free products available to us."

"Shut up, Jim," Bones said as he tossed a packet onto Jim's bed. "Eat your food. Which you should have done before you got in the shower, by the way."

Jim flipped him off as he climbed onto his bed and grabbed the bag, tearing it open to get at the snacks inside. Jim started munching away on the carrot sticks first, taking great delight in the noise they made as he bit into them.

"You know I like Gaila--," Bones started to say.

"And the but is?" Jim asked.

"How serious is it with you two? 'Cause the word is that she has been enjoying some attention from one of the Brazilian Volleyballers," Bones said.

"Dude or chick?" Jim asked. "Hell, either would be totally hot. Gotta love a Brazilian, Bones. And ‘the word’? What are you? Twelve?" Jim laughed at him.

"You don't care?" Bones confirmed.

"Bones, my man. Gaila and I are free to pursue other interests. We are both similar creatures that appreciate the human body honed to perfection," Jim said as he popped another carrot in his mouth. "Speaking of, if you are interested she did express an interest in you earlier. I know you are all for the Officials/Athlete no-go zone, but this is Gaila. Not many say no to her."

Jim took in the open mouthed posture of his best friend, causing his smile to increase to the one that Bones called his 'devil look'. Bones snapped his mouth shut and pointed a finger at Jim.

"Now, now Bones, before you make a hasty judgment. Consider that her invitation was for you and me both to assist her out," Jim teased him.

"What?" Bones asked, his face expressing his shock.

"C'mon! You mean you have never been invited for a threesome before? What better way for your first time than with a woman who can put both legs behind her ears easily and also with your best friend?" Jim battered his eyelashes at Bones, as he tossed the now empty snack bag onto his bedside table.

Bones picked up his pillow and tossed it at Jim, "You little fucker! That's just wrong on so many levels."

"Live a little, Bones. It's right on so many levels. You change your mind, you let me know." Jim tossed the pillow back to Bones and then climbed under the quilt, snuggling down and flipping off the switch to his bedside light. "I'll dream of you and Gaila."

Bones took the hint and crawled under his own covers, grumbling as he turned off his own light. "Besides the fact that Pike, Number One and T'Pring would be lining up to cut off my balls if I so much as touched any of the athletes, you keep your pervy thoughts to yourself."

"Night, Bones. Sweet dreams," Jim was determined to get the last word in.

Bones snorted his response and let Jim win this round.

oOo

"Mr. Kirk, if you are quite finished with your conversation, I do believe you were next up on pommels?" Pike's dry voice could be heard clearly over the babble of voices in the training gym.

Jim turned away from Pavel and Sulu, who were stretching out on the floor in a corner of the mat, saluted smartly toward Pike, and headed over to the pommels. "Aye, aye, Sir!"

"Your whole routine, if you please," Pike ordered once Jim was standing on the opposite side of the pommels.

Jim raised an eyebrow but moved over to chalk up his hands and check the adjustments on the pommel to ensure that they had been set at the correct width for his grip. Spock had obviously done his normal meticulous job and they were perfectly set up. He looked back up at Pike to see the man standing very casually, arms crossed over his chest, waiting for Jim. Over Pike's shoulder, Jim could see the Romanians training. Their head coach was barking instructions in Romanian and occasionally throwing looks over toward the U.S. Team. More specifically, the looks seemed to be aimed at Spock and they were not of a friendly nature. Jim shrugged and then looked back at the pommels, visualizing his mount. He took a deep breath and, with strength and grace, mounted the pommel, straight into his circle work.

All the noise in the gym faded into the background as Jim just felt his way through the routine. His only focus was on the moves he had to perform, the link from one move to the next and the still form of Pike out of the corner of his eye. For those familiar with Jim, they would have noticed that twice there was a little twitch between his brows. Finally he was pushing up to handstand and rotating as he dismounted off the pommel. He held his final pose, clicking his heels together, until he heard a slight exhale from Pike. Then he lowered his arms, relaxed his posture and wandered over to Pike.

Jim stood there for a minute while Pike was staring at him, arms crossed and obviously thinking about what he was going to say. Unlike others who would fidget or start to talk nervously, Jim waited, knowing this was a Pike special to make his gymnasts nervous. Jim wasn’t going to get sucked in. When Pike was good and ready he would tell him what he was happy with, and what he wasn’t. Jim knew he had a reputation for how casual he would stand, people had reported his lack of ‘respect’ which couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Mr. Kirk,” Pike finally said, his grey eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at Jim. “Care to explain to me why you are arching in the _Kehr_?”

“Gotta protect the package, man!” Jim replied, a little smirk on his face. He knew it was a bad mistake, but couldn’t resist a smart ass remark. He could hear the muffled laughter from the direction of where Sulu and Pavel were.

“Mr. Kirk!” Pike wasn’t impressed. “Work on the mushroom and I want to hear from Spock that he is satisfied you are opening your hips correctly.”

Jim bit his lip, knowing he would push it badly if he responded with some innuendo, even though it was hard not to. There was too much in this sport that just begged to be made into innuendo.

“Yes, sir.” Jim nodded and looked serious to let Pike know he had received the instruction. Team finals meant everything at Worlds and Olympics, and theirs was tomorrow.

“Go.” Pike ordered before yelling for Sulu to be next up on the pommels.

It took Jim nearly half an hour before Spock was satisfied enough to let him move onto the next apparatus. In that time he had watched Bones wander in and have a quiet word with Christine Chapel, the team physiotherapist, before he was off presumably back to the main training arena and the Women’s qualifying team.

The rest of the training felt like it was taking all day, going over and over the same skills they had been working on for the past year, some of them even longer than that. Eventually they were allowed to collect their tracksuits and head into the main area to cheer on the girls. Jim was pulling on his jacket as he walked briskly to the doorway and he saw the Romanian head coach making a comment as he walked past Pike and Spock. There was something in the way that both Pike and Spock were standing that made Jim think it wasn’t a friendly conversation. He was tempted to wander over but Sulu was calling his name, so he headed after his teammates.

oOo

“Scoot over, Jim.”

Jim looked up at Gaila, her voice had shocked him out of his concentration on the competition happening down on the floor in front of him. He looked to the side, noticing the seats in their row were all full, but one glance at Gaila was enough to know that she expected him to make space for her. He considered the size of the seat and knew that it wasn’t going to fit both of them side by side.

He patted his lap as he smiled at Gaila. She laughed at him and, in the small space, turned around and elegantly sat down on his lap. With a little shift he got her seated comfortably so that he could still see the action.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“Uhura is killing it, and the rest of the girls doing well.” Jim calculated the scores in his head quickly. “Should qualify first with, I guess, Russia second and China third. Got another rotation to go.”

Gaila nodded and settled in to watch the rest of the competition.

Jim tensed a little bit as he watched the girls walk from the beam to the vault area. Uhura was walking at the back and she was joined by Bones. There was a quiet conversation going on between them and Jim knew that expression on Bones’ face well. It was his Southern shtick, where his charm and smoothness was fully on display. While Jim was good at annoying Uhura, he still respected her abilities. She always appeared so cool and calm, and there was just some perverse part of him that just couldn’t resist teasing her. She looked way too relaxed, and even flirty, as she chatted with Bones for his liking.

“What is it?” Gaila asked quietly. She had figured out that something was up and knew with other countries athletes around to keep their discussion on the down low.

Jim made sure she was looking at him before he flicked his eye-line toward Uhura and Bones and said, “Later.”

Gaila looked at him, a little disbelieving, before she relented with a small smile and turned back to watch the girls warm up for vault.

They all held their breath while the final rotation was underway, hoping to keep their scores up and with no injuries. The relief at the end was very welcome when all pulled up well. Although, Jim noted that Uhura didn’t perform the vault that she had been training. She had done an easier version during the competition, taking out the ½ twist at the end.

They stayed a little longer, watching the second group with the Russian and Chinese teams competing. Number One would be going over things in details with the other girls while they cooled down and wouldn’t appreciate the men’s team hovering around and disturbing them all.

Jim knew he spent more time looking around than he should have, trying to catch a glimpse of Bones coming into the stadium, for some reason. It wasn’t logical but he just wanted to see his friend.

As they excused themselves between a rotation change and started to head for the training gym, Gaila tugged on Jim’s arm to make him drop a little back from the others.

“You aren’t being subtle,” she said.

“What?” Jim asked, not knowing what on earth Gaila was on about.

“Leonard.” Gaila had a smug little smile on her face as she said Bones’ name, dragging out the vowels with a hint of her Russian ancestry showing through.

Jim glared at her as he started to walk a bit quicker, hoping to catch the others.

Once again, she grabbed his arm to slow him down.

“I bet you that when we get into the gym and Leonard is with Uhura, you won’t be able to stop yourself from glaring, jealously.”

“Bullshit!” Jim said, trying to think what on earth was making Gaila come to that conclusion. “When am I ever jealous?”

“You don’t believe me,” Gaila stated. “Fine, but after my suggestion yesterday, who did you think of?” The smug look on her face was still there.

Jim stopped as he thought again of his vision yesterday. Bones had featured in it, but it was just because Gaila suggested the threesome. When Jim thought about it some more, he realized it wasn’t a threesome he had thought of-- it was Bones fucking Gaila while he watched. He knew how gorgeous Gaila looked when she was aroused and enjoying herself, but Bones had been his focus. Jim could feel himself stir thinking about that daydream.

“Fuck off, you are projecting,” Jim said, but he counteracted his harsh words with a smile.

“We’ll see,” Gaila sing-songed back at him before she turned and skipped, honest to goodness skipped, down the passageway. Jim just shook his head and followed her until she stopped suddenly, just before the doorway to the main training gym.

“Oh, what was the later thingy you were going to tell me?”

Jim shook his head at her flitting fast from one conversation topic to another. Others called her a ditz because of it, but Jim knew she was sharply intelligent.

“Uhura pulled out of her normal vault, took the ½ twist out,” he said.

“Yes, I know. That was all?”

“That’s all? She pulls out of her difficulty and you think it’s okay?”

“Number One was concerned about her over-training, you know she is as bad as you. Her back has been a little sore, so Leonard was working with her this morning. That’s why they took it out. Her vault is still one of the higher start scores without the ½ twist, but gives them a little room if it was causing her issues.”

Gaila’s explanation cleared up his concern, and he now understood the conversation on the floor between Bones and Uhura. It also explained why Bones wasn’t in the room earlier in the day when Jim woke up.

Sure enough, as they entered the training gym, Uhura was talking with Bones and Chapel, smiling at each other as they conversed. Jim knew the smiles were mainly because you didn’t want to give your competitors a hint of anything being wrong, as this sport was all about the mental edge you could get on them to put doubt in their mind instead.

Jim wandered over to give Uhura his congratulations and, like always, she seemed disbelieving of his sincerity. Even Bones gave him a rolled eyed expression before wandering over to chat with Number One, Pike and Spock. Jim was left standing on his own, even Christine had deserted him.

“Told you,” Gaila whispered in his ear.

Jim, maturedly poked his tongue out at her in response.

“You won’t win her over easily. You’ve tried to hit on her too many times.”

“It was just too much fun. She’s a great gymnast though.”

“One day she might even think you are okay,” Gaila smirked at him. She wended her arm through his so they could stand together and observe all the colour and movement of the teams excitedly talking to each other, the adrenaline of competition being relaxed for the moment.

“Hey! I’m the best,” Jim protested.

“Sure you are.” Gaila looked at him with a little wicked glance that he knew promised that he would have to prove that later.

They lapsed back into their comfortable silence, with occasional comments about other countries’ gymnasts that they had gossip on, or Sulu and Chekov’s intense one-on-one discussion as the pair of them leaned up against the wall and waited for the call to leave the gym.

It didn’t take long before Spock was assigned that duty. The Men’s team and Gaila were the first to be called, and Jim hid his little smile of pleasure when Bones joined them in the trek to the Team bus.

Weirdly, Jim had noticed the Romanian Men’s coach was hanging around the gym again and seemed to be having another not-quite cordial discussion with Pike over in the far corner, before Pike left to go to one of the other training gyms.

Jim continued his normal flirtation with Gaila on the trip back to the village, with an occasional glance in Bones’ direction. Bones was resolutely staring out the window, giving grunts as answers if he was asked a question.

The others all agreed to head to the dining hall, but Jim thought he might take the opportunity for some alone time with Gaila, seeing as it was likely that Uhura would be a while. His idea was curtailed when Bones grabbed him by the back of his hoodie and stopped him following her.

“Oh no you don’t. Food,” Bones growled at him.

“Jeez, you’re a grumpy asshole today.”

Gaila was laughing at the pair of them.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Jim,” she said as she leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Be gentle with him, Leonard. He’s had to learn some new things today.” Gaila winked at him as she spoke to Bones, before leaning up to also press a kiss to Bones’ cheek.

The sass of her was unbelievable. She had also let Jim know not to try and contact her later without saying a direct word.

“Fine, dinner date with you then. At least attempt to smile, I hate when my dates have that sour look on their face,” Jim said as he slapped Bones on the shoulder in the way that he knew Bones hated.

“When do you even bother with dinner, Mr. Wham-Bam Thank You Ma’am?” Bones asked, but a little smile lurked at the edges of his lips. He never could resist Jim’s teasing for too long.

Gaila was definitely wrong about Bones and him, they were best friends, and fine, he wasn’t going to get laid tonight, but at least he had Bones to keep him company.

oOo


	2. Monday, 30 July 2012

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What to do when you discover that a vital part of your team is missing? The show must always go on, especially at the biggest show on earth.

Jim opened up his email account as he leaned back on the couch, his feet resting on the low coffee table in front of him. When he woke, Bones wasn’t in the apartment. He obviously had been called out for a meeting or something. Jim had logged into his emails earlier to see what the plans were for the day, but there had been no email from Pike, which was a little unusual. There still was no email waiting for him and he thought that maybe they were still sorting out some media stuff, as there was likely to be a promo or two he and the others would be involved in. All in all it was still pretty unusual.

Instead, Jim showered, checked again for messages but found no new ones, and took himself off to get breakfast. Every time he went into the dining hall he shook his head, a McDonalds restaurant in the official athletes village was a weird thing, but money ruled all sport, even the Olympics.

There was still no email when he returned back to the room and also, still no Bones.

It was half an hour later when the concern that was starting to fly around Jim’s mind was not helped by the expression on Bones’ face when he finally came back into their apartment.

“What is it?” Jim asked, as Bones dropped his tag and phone on the coffee table.

“Hmm?” Bones asked, not looking at Jim.

“Why don’t we have an email ordering our lives around?”

“You’ll get one soon.” Bones was walking toward the bathroom.

“Bones, I know something is up.”

Bones stopped as Jim spoke, resting a hand on the wall and dropping his head down.

“Dammit Jim, why are you so observant when we never want you to be?”

“One of my many talents.”

Bones just snorted in reply.

Jim watched for a moment, waiting to see if Bones would say anything further, but he didn’t.

“Spill, Bones,” Jim ordered.

Bones sighed and walked back to sit on the couch next to Jim. The ding of an email notification distracted Jim for a moment, and he saw that it was about the day’s schedule.

“It’s from Spock,” Jim said, looking at Bones to see if he knew why it wasn’t from Pike as per usual.

Bones took another breath and continued to look at Jim with a serious expression on his face. Jim knew that something was seriously up.

“Pike’s missing,” Bones said.

“What?” Jim couldn’t help that his voice had a slightly squeaky quality, before he held up a hand to stop Bones speaking further. Already, issues were running back and forth in his mind. “When was he seen last? Spock can step up but we need another coach on the floor. You can say that he is ill. What about the Chef de Mission? Do they know? Have you checked with Number One? Of course you have, you aren’t stupid. He was still at the venue when we left last night. If he came back here, he would have been logged in with security.”

“Who died and made you captain?” Bones asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’ve got a final to be concentrating on today. Look at Spock’s email and leave finding Pike to us.”

“Dude, c’mon, like I can think about that at the moment?” Jim asked rhetorically. “Where’s Spock?”

“Jim, read the goddamn email and leave the team organization up to us.”

Jim glared at Bones, before doing as he was told. It was just the standard timelines and orders for a day of competition, nothing mentioned about Pike.

“Do the others know?” Jim asked.

The look from Bones said it all.

“I can keep my mouth shut,” Jim said.

Up went Bones’ eyebrow to express his disbelief eloquently.

“I can,” Jim grumbled almost under his breath as he stared at his laptop screen again, hoping that a solution might come to him about where Pike may be.

“Of course not, dumbass. Just make sure you keep that motor-mouth of yours shut for a bit longer. Spock’s as confused as the rest of us. He didn’t check back into the village last night and I think the police should be informed. Spock’s all about not alerting the rest of the competition we are without our Head Coach. T’Pring and Number One have backed him up.” Bones shook his head, obviously annoyed at not being listened to.

A memory came back to Jim, the ‘discussion’ between Pike and the Romanian Head Coach.

“Where’s Spock?” he asked.

“What, Jim?” Bones asked back.

“Remembered something,” Jim said as he stood up quickly and grabbed his jacket, while pushing his sneakers onto his feet at the same time.

Bones stood up and grabbed his phone and tag, putting the tag around his neck. He tossed Jim’s tag at him and pressed a number on his phone.

“Spock, where are you?” Bones asked, and then waited for a reply.

“Really? Jim and I’ll be there in a minute. Jim’s got some information that might be of use.” Bones waved at Jim to follow him as he walked out of the room and headed over to the elevator. Jim checked the door was closed securely before he followed Bones to the elevator.

“He’s not an idiot and, no, I didn’t just ‘spill the beans’!” Bones rolled his eyes at Jim, obviously annoyed at whatever Spock had said.

Jim tried to hide his smile. Bones and Spock were renowned for their regular spats, although Spock liked to call them ‘disagreements on logic’, which always ended with Bones grumbling to Jim about, ‘logic, my ass!’

Jim looked at Bones in query, noting that he had pressed the button for Gaila’s and Uhura’s floor. Bones just had a set expression on his face and kept his lips slightly pursed as a way to not reply to Jim.

“Fine,” Jim said, leaning back against the wall for the short trip up. It only took a minute and the doors opened. Bones walked out first and turned in the direction of a room that Jim was very familiar with.

Sure enough, Bones knocked on the door to the apartment that Gaila and Uhura were sharing. Spock opened the door and gestured them both in.

Uhura was sitting on the couch in the living space.

“Seems I’m not the only one to be talking,” Bones muttered in Spock’s direction.

“Ms. Uhura was at the venue later than us, as such I was ascertaining if she had any further information to impart that may assist us,” Spock said in his dry tone.

“God dammit man! Can’t you just use five words instead of twenty-five?”

“There were twenty-six words, Dr. McCoy,” Spock replied.

Bones threw his hands up in exasperation. “Jim tell him whatever it was that you remembered.”

Jim knew he needed to speak, otherwise it would turn into World War Three with the worry affecting the normal antagonistic natures of a Bones-Spock conversation.

“When we left last night, Pike was over in the far corner of the gym with the Romanian Head Coach. Their discussion didn’t look at all friendly, and there were some looks from the teams sitting near them. The Canadian girls might be able to help you out with what the discussion was about, they were the closest.”

“Nyota?” Spock asked.

“I wouldn’t be much help, they aren’t too fond of me at the moment, but Gaila’s brother is the coach of a couple of them. I could get her to ask?”

Spock nodded. “The less people we involve in this disappearance the better, but I shall converse with T’Pring.”

“I still say we need to tell the authorities, at the very least,” Bones interjected.

“What and cause an international incident at the Olympics? Let alone put all the media attention on the team while we are trying to win a medal?” Jim pointed out.

“Jim, a man’s life could be in danger!” Bones had moved away from the wall and, in typical Bones fashion, had raised his voice as he got closer to Jim.

“Yeah, I got that, Bones. But until we get more information, they won’t thank us for causing an incident.”

“Damn right it’s an incident! The Head Coach of the U.S. Men’s team goes missing while at the London Olympics. No, that’s not of a concern to anyone!”

“It is indeed of great concern, Dr. McCoy, but until we have any further information, it is best to err on the side of caution. The appropriate people have been notified, but we have agreed to maintain keeping the information quiet. Information is being put about that Captain Pike is ill and being isolated from the team as a precaution. You will be asked for information, and I have been asked to ascertain that you are able to provide a diagnosis that will not be queried.”

Jim watched carefully to see if he needed to back Spock up and convince Bones that this was the right thing to do. Bones was mulling it over, with a glare directed at Spock.

“Fine,” Bones eventually bit out. “Tell them he has a virus and is being isolated as a precaution until we get results from the tests back. I’m registering my protest though.”

“Duly noted, doctor,” Spock said, before turning toward Uhura. “Are you sure you did not see Captain Pike speaking with that Romanian?”

“No, I was with the others. I only saw Pike going to the other training gym. I didn’t see him after that. Although...” Uhura looked at Jim as she spoke. “I did see Nero talking with some people outside that I thought looked like they weren’t part of any team. They were near a car that wasn’t an official vehicle. Staying well away from everyone else. There was a van parked there as well, I think, but it was dark.”

“Did they look dodgy?” Jim asked, as another memory snapped at him.

“They looked like you when we first met you at Riverside.” Uhura smiled at him.

“Dodgy then,” Jim smirked back at her. “I remember from late last week seeing those guys hanging around outside and talking with the other Romanians. Not the normal gymnastics groupies. We should look into them,” Jim said.

“Mr. Kirk, you have a competition to prepare for,” Spock told him.

“Spock, I know what these guys look like,” Jim protested.

“So does Ms. Uhura,” Spock pointed out.

“This is a bit of a leap in logic, even for you Spock,” Bones said.

“Indeed not, doctor. Nero has been very public in his disapproval of my father’s defection from Romania to the United States. They were contemporaries for a time and he blames the success of the United States program on my father and by extension, myself. Are you able to look into those gentlemen for me, Nyota? Stay away from Nero though, he is a particularly emotional Romanian who would appreciate any way he could cause harm to a member of this team.”

“I still say it’s a tenuous theory at best,” Bones said.

“Duly noted. Now Jim, you have a bus to catch, shortly.” Spock looked at his watch before continuing. “I suggest you return to your room and collect your gear. Doctor, please accompany me to discuss the plan with other officials.”

Bones shook his head, before he said, “Fine,” and started to walk out of the room.

“Spock,” Jim said quietly, making Spock pause next to him. “We need to keep him on the floor with us. Bones is...”

“Too emotional,” Spock observed before nodding at Jim’s suggestion. “Two officials are required on the competition floor, I shall inform Dr. McCoy of his increase in duties tonight, if Captain Pike does not reappear.”

“Good. See you at the bus. Uhura, good luck. We need Pike back.”

“We’ll find him,” she said.

Jim smiled. “Hell hath no fury like a woman and all that.”

oOo

It had been a tricky afternoon, keeping the concentration up while the worry was nagging at the back of his mind. Gaila had done her work superbly; the conversation between Pike and Nero had definitely been antagonistic and had involved a threat from Nero. Uhura had less success, but others had seen the same group hanging around the Romanians and especially Nero. One of the Russian team had even said they thought that they were family to Nero.

Questions had been raised amongst the U.S. team about Pike’s absence, but Jim, much to Bones’ apparent disbelief, was able to stick to the story. With all the little conversations Jim had with Bones and Spock away from the team during warm-up, Jim found himself being asked if he was taking Spock’s place as Assistant Coach by his fellow teammates. They had talked about Number One coming in to help as well, but one look was enough to give that idea short shrift. It was up to the girls to keep the search for Pike going while the team searched after gold.

Spock had listened to Jim’s suggestions about the competition politely and Jim had been hard pressed not to express his shock when Spock agreed with most of them. Bones was reported to the IOC officials as being the second U.S. coach, due to Captain Pike’s ‘illness’. Jim could only look in shock as it was accepted.

“That’s weird,” Jim said as the officials walked away.

“Mr. Kirk, Dr. McCoy does have the necessary qualifications and under the circumstances the IOC have approved our request.”

“He’s a doctor, not a coach,” Jim said as he pointed at Bones.

“Actually, Jim...” Bones said.

“No way!”

“If I was gonna do my job properly then it might help if I knew what stupidity the coaches were gonna try and get y’all to do,” Bones said.

“What’s going on?” Sulu asked as he wandered over.

“Bones is apparently our coach for this evening,” Jim said.

“Mr. Kirk, it would be beneficial if you were to commence your warm up and leave the imparting of information to those whose job it is,” Spock said.

Jim was tempted to poke his tongue out at Spock, but at the look from Bones, he decided against it and obeyed the instruction.

“Whatever,” he said as he walked away with Sulu.

oOo

A little later, Jim could see that Bones was close to saying something the team didn’t need to hear, so Jim wandered over toward him and looked in the direction of the treatment room. Bones took the hint, picked up his med kit and followed Jim to the little room. Jim hopped up on the bed and waited for Bones to close the door. A little tick on Bones’ cheek was telling Jim everything he needed to know about Bones’ state of mind. He knew Bones so well that anyone else, even Pike, wouldn’t have picked up on it. They would have concentrated on Bones’ silence, which was unusual in itself, but the tick was telling Jim that an explosion was very imminent.

“What, Jim?” Bones asked as he opened up the kit he had placed on the bed next to Jim.

Jim looked down at Bones’ bowed head, the fluorescent light shining on the deep chestnut of Bones’ hair. Jim wanted to reach out and touch it and try and calm Bones’ down, but while he and Bones were pretty handsy as friends, that was a bit more intimate than they had ever been together.

“What’s wrong?” Bones continued.

“Nothing,” Jim replied.

Bones looked up, the furrow between his eyes appearing as he was confused by Jim’s reply.

“What?” Bones bit out, now looking angry.

“You need to yell. Do it at me and not out there,” Jim said.

Bones glared at Jim, the tick now speeded up, but while Jim thought Bones might yell now, he surprised him. Bones zipped up his med kit and started to walk toward the door.

“Running away, Bones? That’s unlike you,” Jim said, knowing that he had to keep Bones in the room.

Bones hit his hand on the door and leaned his head down as he swore under his breath. Jim slid off the bed and put his hand on Bones’ shoulder.

“Bones,” Jim said.

“This has to be one of the stupidest decisions I have ever had to be a part of.” Bones managed to finally get out the words that Jim knew had been building up in him since they had left Uhura’s apartment.

Bones turned around and leaned in close to Jim’s face.

“And you!” Bones poked Jim in the chest. “You are going along with this. A man’s life is in danger and all you lot can think about is a god damn gymnastics competition!”

“No we aren’t. We are thinking about Pike, those of us that know anyway. What can we do? Would Pike want us to drop everything for him? Hell no and you know it,” Jim retorted. He needed to get Bones to vent out all his hang ups and then to calm down and get on the same page.

Bones growled at Jim’s response, no pithy saying or comeback reply but he still expressed his annoyance in his own way.

“It’s still wrong. A man’s missing for christ’s sake! And no one is doing anything,” Bones said, once more poking Jim in the chest.

Jim had had enough with the poking. He already had some decent bruises from training and he didn’t need another one on his chest. Jim grabbed Bones’ hand and glared right back at the man.

“We _are_ doing things. Sure we haven’t gone to the cops, but that would make things so much worse. You, me and Spock are the only ones that know out there that know. Can you imagine the panic if everyone else knew? Pike’s spent most of his life training gymnasts for moments like this. He found you and he found me and gave us a chance when no one else would. I don’t want to let him down.” Jim had let go of Bones’ hand and brought both his hands up to cradle Bones’ face, to make sure Bones wasn’t going to look anywhere but at him. “You know exactly what everyone has sacrificed out there and you’ve done the same. I need you to be you. I know you are worried, and so am I, but I can’t do what Pike would want, if I don’t have _you_ there.”

For a long moment he and Jim just stared at each other. Jim tried desperately to put into his eyes every concern he had, but also his resolution that this was the path they were taking and no amount of argument from Bones was going to change it. Jim felt Bones’ skin under his fingers and with little movements of his thumbs he could feel exactly how close Bones had shaved today. Bones’ aftershave, a light but slightly spicy smell, was teasing at Jim’s senses. He’d been close to Bones before and knew his preference but there was just something about it now, standing so close to each other.

Finally Bones lowered his eyes and nodded his head slightly.

“I mean, really, man. Would you prefer me to be running around London trying to find him?” Jim asked with a little smile on his face.

Bones huffed out a laugh as he shook his head, still not looking up at Jim. Jim could see the smile in reply on Bones’ face, the little upturn of his lips that caused the mole on his right cheek to move a little higher.

“Hell no. The patching up I would have to do after that is not worth it,” Bones said before turning back to the door.

“Bones--,” Jim started to say, reaching out a hand to almost touch Bones on the shoulder.

Bones stopped, with his hand on the door knob. “I know. You can tell Spock I’m fine.”

“I’m just...I’m concerned too. I just...” For once Jim wasn’t as sure about what to say. He knew he had a silver tongue and a comeback for every situation, but now, after feeling the concern from Bones, from being so close to him, he had this feeling that he needed to be closer.

“I know, Jim. See you back out there,” Bones said as he turned the door handle.

“It’s what friends are for,” Jim said. “You needed to yell and what better person to yell at than me?” Jim had dropped his hand down by his side, initially unsure if to put them on his hips or leave them as they were.

“Pike is all about ‘practice makes perfect’ and I sure do practice a lot in your direction.” Jim could hear the smile in Bones’ voice as he spoke, his back still to Jim.

Bones opened the door, bringing them both back to reality and the pressure of a whole nation’s expectations, but more importantly, the expectations of the one man who wasn’t there.

oOo

Jim took a quick glance at the scoreboard as the scores for Pavel‘s final vault flashed up. It wasn’t bad, but could have been better. Jim knew exactly what vaults the other competitors had been doing and if you played it safe they had been judging them just as safe, but something with a bit of risk was getting a preference from the judges. Jim did a quick glance at the three on this side-- an Australian, a Hungarian and a Brazilian. It was almost the perfect start to a joke, but this apparatus wasn’t to be laughed at. Serious injuries had been caused, even with the change of the vault shape to help against that and certain vaults being outlawed. Frank had been adamant that the first apparatus Jim had needed to master was vault and as much as he hated that prick, he was glad that his fears were faced head on and early.

His dad had died doing a vault that very few attempted. Why he had changed his second vault to it at that Olympics, no one knew, though many tried to guess. Frank had ‘opinions’ about it that he liked to share regularly with Jim, especially that it was Jim’s fault. His Dad didn’t have his mind on the ‘game’, he was too focussed on the fact that his wife was in labor; were two of Frank’s regular comments about that moment.

Jim stared at the ‘tongue’-- the metal, plastic and faux leather curved monster of many people’s nightmares. It wasn’t going to beat him today. He was determined not to let it. All around him there were quiet conversations going on between officials, between coaches and their athletes, and also the crowd. He ignored them all, just focussing on the apparatus. His first vault was a 7.2 difficulty and his next was a 7.0. They were in front, but if they could get the extra .2, it would be like a 100 meter sprinter breaking his opponent’s spirit 50 m from the finishing line.

He had been training the _Kobayashi Maru_ \- a full-twisting Tsukahara double back, for the past few years. Pike had initially been resistant about Jim training for it, but when he discovered that Jim was attempting it in the gym with no supervision, he had gotten really pissed. A few ‘discussions’ between them later and Pike had allowed Jim to work on it under his eye, once he knew that Frank had laid out the groundwork during Jim’s formative years in gymnastics. It wasn’t something that they did when the others were in the gym and especially not if Bones was around. Jim and Pike would never have heard the end of it and they both knew it without having to speak of it.

His mind made up, Jim walked toward Spock to speak to him quietly, away from the rest of the team.

“We need a bigger buffer, right?” Jim asked.

“It would be beneficial,” Spock replied as he made a few notes on the clipboard that was never far from his hands while he was on a competition floor.

“What about two 7.2 vaults?” Jim asked, not looking at Spock but still at the vault where Sulu was checking the mark of his run up.

“Successfully completed those would be unmatched in any competition and would indeed provide a substantial lead on the competition.”

“So can I?” Jim asked as Sulu took off down the mat to attack his first vault.

Neither Jim nor Spock saw Sulu’s vault, as Spock said the name that Jim had been thinking of for the past few minutes and possibly for his whole life.

“The _Kobayashi Maru_.”

The cheer from the crowd behind them distracted them both from their little staring contest to glance instead at Sulu who had successfully landed his vault, if his reaction was anything to go by.

The score which flashed up as Sulu waited, down the end of the mat again, was okay for what he had done. Jim could see Pavel standing up and yelling encouragement. His second vault was a little more difficult and as Pavel started on the chant of Sulu’s name, Jim joined in, flashing a smile at Sulu.

“Stick it!” Jim yelled out as Sulu nodded at him and Spock, Bones having put up the difficulty score for the judges.

Up went the flag and Sulu was taking off once again, legs striding out as he built up speed closer to the springboard.

“Woo!” Jim yelled as Sulu landed, sticking it solidly, just as Jim had told him to do.

“Tell you what,” Jim said to Spock as he headed in the direction of the steps up to the run up. “I nail the first one to your satisfaction, you let me do it on the second.”

Spock looked up from where he was moving the marker for Jim’s run-up.

“You know I can do it. Pike would have told you I’ve been training it. No guts, no glory, and Pike woulda let me do it,” Jim said.

“Emotional blackmail is beneath you, Mr. Kirk,” Spock replied before admitting, “I have indeed seen the training tapes.”

“So? Deal? If you’re happy with the first one, I get to do it on the second?”

“Concentrate on your initial vault, Mr. Kirk,” Spock said as he walked down to speak to Bones.

Jim knew he only had 30 seconds once that flag went up. He gave a little shake of his shoulders, feeling all his muscles come into play, a quick stretch out of the arms, feeling the lock in his shoulders and the give in his elbows he would need. Jim put a little chalk on his hands, gave a gentle clap to dislodge the excess and then he moved to his run up place, double checking the marker before looking back at the vault and the red tongue waiting for him.

The flag went up and with one deep breath, that he held for just for a moment and felt the perfection of the flight, before he let the breath out as he took off. Down the mat the vault loomed larger in his vision and then it and the springboard were there, for him to use and do what he was born to do. The slap of the springboard as he hit it at full speed, followed by the slap of his hands resounding in the air on the table as he saw the chalk fly, before he was in the air with a push. His movements were controlled and tight, twisting at the right time, around and then spotting the mat with the landing strips waiting for him below. He extended out, body tight and with a small bend as his feet connected with the mat, sinking in as every muscle screamed out in his body to just take another little jump. Jim didn’t let them win, absorbed the pain and held that landing for all he was worth before straightening up and grinning at the stadium at large.

The grin was still on his face as he presented to the judges and jogged over where Spock was standing near Bones.

“Nice one, Jim,” Bones said.

“Deal, Spock?” Jim asked, knowing that he had only about 30 seconds to convince Spock. “No fault in that one and you know my mind’s on it. Want me to do a vault I am not prepared for?”

Spock stared at Jim for a moment with his calm way that unnerved most gymnasts, and even a whole lot of judges.

“Dr. McCoy, change that to a 7.2 difficulty,” Spock said as he walked over to adjust Jim’s run up marker.

“Atta boy, Spock. Time to kick some ass!”

“What?” Bones asked.

“Mr. Kirk will be doing the _Kobayashi Maru_ as his second vault.”

“Oh, hell no!” Bones growled out, starting to walk toward Jim.

“Too late Bones, Spock decided. It’ll be fine, trust me,” Jim said, grinning down at Bones from his position up on the podium, trying to convince him through that little speech that every worry that was in Bones’ head wouldn’t come to pass. Jim backed away and gave Bones a thumbs up before jogging to the end, and smiling at Spock who had correctly marked his run up for the vault. Pike had indeed been telling Spock what Jim had been practicing.

Bones had followed him down to the end.

“For Christ’s sake, Jim,” Bones hissed out, trying to keep his voice down a bit but his whole body language had the rest of the team watching the interaction and obviously wondering what was going on. Jim looked up to see the 7.2 difficulty on the scoreboard, so Bones had done that part of his job at least.

“It’ll be fine, Bones,” Jim said as he held up his hand to stall any more of Bones’ complaints. He could almost feel the concern radiating off of Bones. It had been a long time since someone had cared as much about Jim’s well being as Bones did.

If Jim had the time, he would have loved to have convinced Bones, but the flag went up-- the judges were ready for him and Jim focussed on the vault table ahead and not the distracting man at his right.

He took a breath in and he held it a little longer as Bones spoke again, shocking him slightly.

“Don’t kill yourself! Just stick it!”

In all their time together, at Nationals, Worlds, and now here at the Olympics, Bones had never used that particular gymnastic terminology before. He was always a doctor first.

If Bones wanted him to stick it, Jim was gonna stick it!

He let the breath out, feeling the slight give in the mat under his feet, springboard in the right place and a nod from Spock.

He presented and then was off, pushing harder than for the previous vault. His world came down to the apparatus in front of him, the sounds of his breathing and his feet on the runway. He performed a handspring with half twist onto the vault from the springboard and the little bend in his elbows ensured he pushed off with as much maximum height as he could get. He tucked in straight away, but not too tight as that would only increase the rotations too fast and cause him to have no control over them. Everything in gymnastics was about control. Keeping his hands near his knees, not touching as he completed his first back tuck and then bringing them up and crossing over his chest as he started to twist on the final one.

Looming out of the blur of the rotation was the ground, coming up to meet him faster than a punch from a pissed off boyfriend or girlfriend who was objecting to Jim’s interest in their other half.

“Don’t fall forward, don’t fall forward,” he repeated to himself as the straightened out of the tuck just enough, flexing his feet ready to land and then he did.

If the last vault had been hard to hold and not hop out of, this one was worse. Higher and faster on his rotations, his body was screaming for just a little hop. He held his place, bent over and arms straight out, slowly moving his body back, hips first and then up to straighten. A triumphant smile was on his face as he stared at the vault just a meter or so in front of him. He had won, he had beaten it and as he raised his arms up, the rush of the roar from the crowd invaded his ears.

A turn, a little smirk of a smile now at the judges with his final present, as if to say ‘go ahead, deduct this!’ Then he turned toward his team.

He saw Spock first, arms crossed and clipboard tucked in neatly against his chest, not marring the stiff-backed posture that was such a part of him. He gave a little nod of approval, not even a grin as Jim jumped down and gave him a slap on his shoulder as he walked past.

“See, told ya,” Jim said, his grin now wide enough that he could feel the muscles pulling tight on his cheeks. Nothing was gonna wipe that grin from his face.

Before he could pull his arm fully away from Spock’s shoulder he was enveloped in a hug from Sulu, a huge grin on his face as well.

“You fucking idiot!” Sulu said into his ear as Jim laughed and hugged him right back.

“Hey, it was brilliant!” Jim countered.

Sulu just leaned back, breaking the hug and pushed Jim playfully on the side of the head.

“Brilliant and insane as only James T. Kirk can do!” Sulu replied.

Pavel was shaking his head side to side, his eyes wide in amazement. Jim held up his hand for a high five and found himself pulled into another tight hug instead. A few slaps on his back and even one or two not so soft on his head and he strongly suspected who was responsible for that. They were a tight little group in their excitement and Jim looked around for Bones so he could tell him he had listened. He had stuck it and hadn’t died.

Jim’s smile dropped a little to see Bones still standing by the stairs where Jim had left him, his arms were crossed like Spock’s had been but the look on his face was as stony as Jim had ever seen it. Bones wasn’t pleased and it was all Jim’s fault. Bones needed to trust him better, Jim had never needed someone to trust him as much as he needed Bones to. All the babbling that was going on around him, the excitement he could almost literally feel, was tempered by Bones’ silence. Jim hadn’t died, just as Bones had told him not to. He had pulled off a vault that hadn’t been seen successfully in competition, ever. No one would ever take that from him, yet Bones seemed to disapprove of it.

Jim didn’t have time to consider it any more as there was another roar, even more deafening than when he had landed the vault. Someone spun him around toward the scoreboard.

They had their buffer, a big buffer, just as he had planned.

Jim laughed, elated with all the emotions around. He turned back to the crowd and pumped up his fists in the air, causing another round of cheers, before Spock walked behind him and brought him right back down to earth.

“Next rotation gentlemen,” Spock said quietly, never having to raise his voice to get everyone to listen. It was a talent Jim was trying to figure out how to do it himself. Pike was another who had the skill, although sometimes he did use a piercing whistle to pull his rowdy gymnasts into line.

Jim walked back over to his bag, his path bringing him closer to Bones who was walking back to the team area of the line of chairs.

“Hey Bones,” Jim greeted him.

All he received was a quick flash of Bones’ eyes and a, “Just don’t, Jim,” before Bones was walking past him.

Jim hid his disappointment, knowing that there were cameras all around, listening in and recording almost every conversation and movement going on on the competition floor, except anything to do with judging of course. Those were no-go areas.

A heavy feeling settled in his heart and a long ago conversation with his mom came to mind, one of the few times Jim heard her talk about his Dad. The pain in her voice had been palpable and yet the love was still there, even after all those years and knowing how much Jim looked like his Dad. He knew it would have been hard for her to see him everyday, being a constant reminder of the day she lost her husband. Bones’ silent treatment felt a little like what his Mom had expressed that day.

From where Jim was bent down over his bag he took a quick glance at Bones and there was that little flicker he had been feeling the past couple of days whenever he had seen Bones. Just like a first crush, the connection was so unexpected that Jim paused completely in what he was doing. Shocked that he might have a crush on Bones, his best friend. Jim tried to think of what else it could be, but Gaila’s comments about Bones’ attractiveness after Qualifyings and Jim’s own thoughts seemed to be converging right back to crush. 

Jim didn’t have time to ponder it too much as he was slapped on the back, close to his ass, by Mitchell, effectively telling him to stop dawdling and get in line with the rest of the team, ready to move to the next rotation. He had to try and get Bones out of his head. They had a medal to win.

oOo

Jim had never been as on edge at a competition as he was that evening. It had been close through every apparatus, with the Japanese edging ahead on the second apparatus. After a strong performance from Pavel on pommels, as well as Jim and Sulu nailing their routines to the best of their abilities, they had kept just ahead until vault, when Jim had got the audience on their feet and Bones to stop talking to him. They were now waiting for the final rotation to start and Jim had taken a seat next to Bones on the little plastic chairs for the coaches and athletes to sit on while they waited for their turn.

He knew he was pushing it and Bones was still annoyed at him for performing the same vault that had killed his dad, but they had needed the score and Jim knew he could do it. All the conflicting thoughts about the vault and what Bones meant to him started circulating again in his mind. He had focussed them out as much as possible, but Bones’ grumpy silence hadn’t been helping.

Jim jumped in surprise as he felt Bones’ hand clamp down hard on his thigh, bringing him back to the present. It had been twitching up and down and had obviously started to annoy Bones, who wasn’t the most patient of people at the best of times.

“Will you stop that,” Bones said quietly from between his teeth.

The strong, long fingers gripping his thigh, hot through the thin material of his longs, had nerves of a different kind gripping Jim. It was just what he didn’t need with most of the world’s cameras soon to focus on him-- a half-hard cock wanting that hand to move a bit higher and fuck anyone who was watching. There already were blogs dedicated to his package, that he was aware of, and he could just imagine the things that would be said and the screen grabs posted around if he didn’t get his cock to behave.

He had thought Gaila was a bit off in her suggestion but the thoughts had been nagging him and that simple touch caused a reaction he wasn’t quite expecting. As casual as he could make it, he brushed Bones’ hand off his leg before using one of the many weapons at his disposal.

“So when did you go and decide to get a coaching accreditation?” Jim asked, as he crossed his legs and discreetly adjusted his longs. If Bones was up to talking to him again, Jim was gonna do what he could to keep that happening.

“You don’t know everything about me, Jim. Now stop asking questions and think about your rings routine,” Bones ordered.

“One day I will know everything about you,” Jim declared.

Bones snorted, verbalizing his disdain for Jim’s comment.

Jim did as ordered, leaned back a little in the hard plastic chair, closed his eyes and visualized his routine. He could feel the rings in his hands as he was lifted up to grasp, body straight, tightening all the right muscles in his core as he felt the flex in his shoulders and the one thing he should never forget as Pike would continually remind him, to point his toes.

Azarian Maltese to start, feeling the strain as he held the position, remembering to check he had no arch in his handstand. Next up, swings, making sure no sweat is around to distract him, before a layed out Yamawaki, another Maltese with an inverted cross, and another swing keeping the rings as still as possible. Then his final move up in preparation for his double twist dismount. Stick the landing-- the basics that he learned at Riverside under Frank’s harsh tutelage and against his Mom’s wishes. He imagined absorbing the landing in his feet, holding it and then straightening to present, as perfect in his mind as he could make it.

A huge roar from the crowd had him opening his eyes and seeing the Chinese team pumping their arms in the air from over by the floor. A crowd pleasing routine had obviously just finished, and the excitement from the Chinese team hoping to push the scores the way they wanted. Jim looked down to check his grips. Cheers from his teammates had him looking up, Cupcake was up next, that determined look on his face that Jim likened to a pit bull about to savage its owner. He might give a whole lot of shit to Cupcake but the man was a demon on the Rings and a mid 16’s routine from him would give them a really good buffer on the Chinese and the Japanese.

Just like Pike had expected, the Chinese had faltered on High Bar. They had improved a lot on rings, but it had led to deficiencies in other areas. It was almost like the joke about the Cubans and pommels. It went that there was only one pommel horse in Cuba, and the one guy they had who was good at pommels used to hog it all the time.

Pike was all about being as complete a gymnast as possible. Spock was one of the prime movers on this ‘logical’ theory and though Jim might like to disagree with Spock at the best of times on purely philosophical terms, he did agree in this instance. Frank had been a stick kinda coach, but Pike used a carrot which you knew was backed up by a big stick if that didn’t work.

Jim watched Cupcake through his Maltese and his swings, doing exceptional work on his swings, body almost perfect, and then the hold at the end before his double back release kickout. Jim jumped up and high fived with Sulu and Pavel as Cupcake stuck his landing. If it didn’t get at least 16.5 then the judging was rigged, he thought.

As Cupcake came down the steps, Jim was one of the first waiting for him.

“Awesome job, man,” he said as he patted Cupcake on the shoulder.

“Don’t let us down, farm boy,” Cupcake replied, but there was a little smile on his face, the adrenaline from the routine making him slightly polite toward Jim.

An ooh from the crowd distracted their team, making them look around the competition floor to see what caused it.

“Jim,” Bones said in a warning tone.

Jim smirked as he looked at Bones’ face. He flicked his eyebrows up, letting Bones know he understood but was still amused by trying to keep his mind on the job.

“Nail it, Sulu,” Jim yelled encouragement as Sulu chalked up his hands and flashed him and Pavel a smile.

Pavel and Jim launched into their “Hikaroo Suloo” call, making sure to elongate the ending of each of his names.

“Sit down, you idiots,” Bones muttered.

“He loves it,” Jim pointed out as he stayed standing.

“Indeed, doctor,” Pavel agreed. “If we didn’t do it, Hikaru wouldn’t perform as well.”

Bones’ look said everything he thought about that piece of stupidity. Jim just grinned at him, but Pavel was watching Sulu intently as he started his routine. Jim joined Pavel in watching Sulu and yelling out encouragement just before each skill that he struggle a bit with. He was a little low on two of his skills, not enough to lose marks on normally, but this was an Olympic final. Another small wobble in his handstand, but just like Cupcake his landing was stuck beautifully and the team jumped as one in the air and yelled with the crowd.

A hug for Sulu, careful in his slap on his back not to hit too hard because of the grips on his hands, then Jim was standing alone by the steps with Spock and Bones hovering just behind them.

“Spot me, Bones?” Jim asked quietly, looking at Spock to see his reaction. He had asked the same thing during high bar, Spock had nodded his acquiescence and he did the same again.

Sulu’s score flashed up and Jim smiled broadly to see that the small errors he’d noticed hadn’t been taken into account.

“Acceptable,” Spock said. “Mr. Kirk, the final performance rests on you. Captain Pike would assure you that all your training has led to this point and to use all the skills and knowledge you have developed not to let your team down.”

Jim tried not to laugh at Spock’s attempt at a reassurance in his own unique way.

“Good god, man, good luck would have been enough,” Bones said.

Jim saw the flag go up, luckily enough ensuring that Bones wouldn’t start one of his normal disagreements with Spock.

“I’m up,” Jim said as he started up the stairs and over to the chalk, letting his smile drop as he chalked up and relaxed into his pre-routine. He turned around and Bones was waiting at the side of the rings for him. He took another deep breath, blocking out everything but the Rings. Three steps had him in the spot he needed to be in and a gentle touch of the hands at his hips had him startling a little.

“Ready, Jim?” Bones asked quietly, his breath tickling over the hairs of Jim’s neck.

At his nod, Bones’ hands gripped harder on the flesh of his hips and Jim bent his knees and released, arms extended to grasp the Rings above him. He gave a little mental shake of his head to block out the feeling of those hands as they slid off him, almost in a caressing movement, and turn his entire focus on his routine.

Everything became just him and the apparatus, the move fluidly from one skill to another exactly as he had trained for them. This is what he was born for, even if it was not what his mom wanted for him. His desire to prove that this is what made him special, just as it had made his dad special. What he could do for the team drove him on until he held the final move, silence in his ears before the swing to release the rings, pull tight, twist and spot the mat just as he extended out. Exactly as he had seen it in his head, it happened. He heard the slap as his feet sunk into the mat, felt his muscles bunch and relax before a rush of adrenaline hit him as the roar from the crowd made its presence felt.

Jim punched both arms in the air and looked to the side to see his team jumping up and down madly as they cheered. Only two people were standing still, Spock as stoic as usual, but with a nod of approval at Jim and off on the other side, Bones with his arms crossed and a wry smile on his face. It was Bones that Jim focussed on as he jogged over to the steps and down. It was Bones he was smiling at as he was slapped on the back and high fived, no one caring about grips on hands smacking into bare flesh.

“For Pike,” he mouthed in silence at Bones before laughing at Pavel, who was babbling away so excitedly that he hadn’t realized he had lapsed into Russian. The others were now distracted with teasing Pavel, so Jim made his escape, over to his bag, pulling off his grips as he walked, then smacking his hands together to get rid of whatever chalk was still hanging around.

He felt Bones’ presence even before he saw Bones’ hand with a water bottle in it, extended toward him.

As Jim looked quizzically at him, Bones spoke. “Even if in the event of complete stupidity and that that wasn’t a gold medal winning routine, you’ll still have a medal and peeing in a bottle in your immediate future, so drink up.”

Jim took the bottle and wrinkled up his nose to show exactly what he thought of that, but it was lost as Bones was now moving among the other team members and doling out more bottles and instructions.

Jim drank deep as he watched and waited for his score to come up. Spock had come to stand next to him and there was the slightest little twitch in his posture every so often, displaying nerves to Jim’s mind. Jim grinned at Spock as he pointed at the screen.

“Will that do?”

“Adequate, Mr. Kirk,” Spock replied before glancing at the large scoreboard. “And I would dare to say that is admirable.”

Jim followed Spock’s eyeline and let out a whoop of delight. They had done it. Without Pike and with the distraction of worry that had been nagging at him, Bones and Spock all day, they had won. Gold for Team U.S.A. and Jim was once more part of an unruly mob aka his teammates.

oOo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who want to know what the vault looks like that Jim does and why it's so insane, here's two videos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuxL6QUP2oM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFQEP0v3d3U
> 
> Also "longs" are what the long white pants are called in men's gymnastics


	3. Monday, 30 July 2012 (night)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A possible lead to where Pike may have disappeared to is discovered. Jim just has to follow his instincts, (for the most part), and drags along a few of his teammates for the ride.

“Well?” Jim asked as Spock disconnected the call.

Spock just shook his head as he continued to walk back to their group still waiting for their bus to arrive and take them back to the village. Pike was still missing.

“Where the fuck is he?” Jim asked quietly, looking at Bones. All the euphoria of winning a gold medal had evaporated after the media commitments, the same inane questions being asked over and over. Jim had to be mindful to not let it annoy him and use his charm so that the media got the grabs they wanted, in order to break the news on their evening shows.

“What’s up?” Sulu asked as he looked from Jim to Bones and then over to Spock.

Jim looked to the other two to see if they were going to say anything.

“We’re not stupid and Gaila’s keeping a secret too,” Sulu said as he indicated Pavel and himself with his hand.

Garry, Cupcake, and Kevin had been sent off in an earlier shuttle with Chapel and the Women’s team members who had hung around to watch, support, and celebrate, until Number One had put her foot down.

“Where’s the Captain?” Pavel asked.

Jim opened his mouth to break the news to Sulu and Pavel when his arm was grabbed and Gaila hissed his name.

“What?” Jim asked, looking at her and noticing she was looking away at something in the distance. When he glanced in the same direction it was to see two guys in civilian clothes hovering around, the slightly bigger one talking on the phone, arms moving agitatedly as he argued with whoever was on the other end of the line.

“It’s them,” Gaila said.

“What?” Bones asked, speaking almost simultaneously with Spock, who asked if she was sure.

“Oh, I’m sure. That’s the same guys.” She pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and flicked over to her photo album, pulling up a pic of some of the Russian girls taken in a spot similar to where they were standing now. Gaila zoomed in and, sure enough, there was Nero in the background with two guys that looked almost the same as the ones they were all trying not to watch in an obvious manner.

“Someone going to explain what’s going on and what it has to do with Pike being sick or not really sick?” Sulu asked as he too looked up from the phone. The guy had finished his phone call and had just started to make another short one.

“It’s definitely the guys I saw last week, Spock,” Jim said.

The bigger guy dropped his cigarette and ground it out with his foot before glancing up. A car was driving around the corner and Jim wondered how on earth it got in this section, since it was blocked off for anything other than official vehicles. The car was very obviously not an official vehicle.

“Fuck,” Jim whispered as he glanced around. It was a long shot, but those guys had talked to Nero a number of times and only to Nero, not to any other member of the Romanian team, from what they had gathered. Nero had challenged and even threatened Pike, if the Canadian girls were to be believed. Gaila wasn’t one to lie and the Canadians would have no need to either.

Jim recognized a familiar face about to get in a van that was parked next to the Arena. His decision was made as the other two men got in the car that had pulled up, a green BMW that had seen much better days.

“C’mon,” he said as he grabbed his bag and started running over to the van.

He heard his name called by both Bones and Spock and then the sound of feet slapping on the asphalt behind him.

Jim was glad at least that the driver of the BMW was travelling at a snail’s pace, keeping to the rules, and hadn’t sped out of the area.

“Hey, Scotty. Bet you’ve never heard this before. Follow that car!” Jim said as he tossed his bag into the open doorway on the side of the van. There was no equipment or anything else inside it, which was a blessing.

“Jim, you’re mad!” Bones yelled as he caught up to Jim, trying to grab his arm and stop him following after his bag.

“If we follow them, we might find Pike.” Jim grabbed Bones’ arm in return, using his greater power to tug and pull Bones into the van with him.

Bones had to step up or risk his shins being bashed into the hard metal side of the van. He chose the less painful option, but ended up almost sprawled on top of Jim.

Bones opened his mouth to give Jim a lecture as he pushed up on his hands, so Jim just slapped his hand over the top of Bones’ mouth and ignored the look of complete shock in Bones’ eyes. He also tried desperately to think of Pike and not how soft Bones’ lips felt under his palm. Or how Bones was looming a little over the top of him and how Jim could feel a bit of a flush rising on his skin.

“It is an unlikely scenario, Mr. Kirk,” Spock said, but Jim noted that Spock had gotten in the van too. Jim was ignoring Bones pulling at his arm to try and get him to let go.

“Laddie, what are you on about?” Scotty asked as he leaned in the front doorway.

“Mr. Scott, would you be ever so kind to follow that car? Jim isn’t mad and we would be in your debt,” Gaila said in her best coaxing tone that Jim knew almost no man could be immune to, no matter their sexual preferences. Gaila had skills.

“Well, seeing as you asked nicely,” Scotty said with a slightly mad grin on his face as he hopped up into the driver’s seat. The vibrations from the engine registered with Jim. The van had been idling.

“Hang on,” Scotty ordered as he slammed the door shut.

Sulu and Pavel had jumped into the back as well and Gaila was the last to enter, pulling the sliding door of the van shut behind her.

Before anyone could say anything more, the van lurched forward, propelling them all to grab hold of something. Bones and Jim had a small problem doing so in that Jim only had one hand to brace himself with and Bones had been occupied with making Jim let go. The upshot was that Jim hit the floor of the van hard and had Bones land back on top of him. The movement caused Jim to let go of Bones’ mouth and what he had been dreading happening was let loose.

“Of all the stupid-ass, idiotic and Iowa-backwards stupidity. For fuck’s sake, Jim! You’ve put two and seventeen together, added in yellow and come up with four! Or some other ridiculous leap of logic that even Spock would never countenance and thinking they’re gonna lead us to Pike!”

Bones had pushed himself up to sit on his haunches as he yelled at Jim. What Bones had let loose with wasn’t quite expressed in the way that Jim thought it would be. Jim ignored the questions from Sulu, Pavel and Scotty about what Bones had said and tried his best placating face on Bones. He heard Gaila starting to explain the situation to the other three.

“Don’t you even try it,” Bones said as he pointed a finger at Jim. “You could have taken a photo of the car with your phone and talked to the cops. They could have found them and seen if your stupid theory was right. Instead we are doing the world’s slowest car chase through the streets of London, driven around by a mad Scotsman.”

“Bones--” Jim began, but up went Bones’ eyebrow, telling Jim in no uncertain terms that he had said his piece and he didn’t want to hear anymore.

Bones had sat down on the floor as Jim started to speak, back up against the side of the van and arms crossed as he pursed his lips in annoyance. Jim tried hard not to look at them as the lights from the street lamps hid and revealed their plumpness, reminding Jim of the feel of them under his palm just moments earlier.

“I do agree Doctor, that it does appear to be a far fetched theory, but a sighting of a person who looks suspicious to us would not be considered relevant information. If we can ascertain that they are involved with closer inspection, then the authorities would be able to act quicker. This idea is folly, but Jim may just be right. Those men should not have been in that area.”

“Has the Captain really been kidnapped?” Sulu asked.

“What else would keep him from an Olympic final?” Jim asked back. “Nothing else makes sense.”

“Hold on again, roundabout,” Scotty yelled out.

Jim scrambled over to sit next to Bones, who was giving his best, ‘I’m ignoring you’ look.

“If anything happened to any of us, Pike would be the first to come looking. We can’t not, Bones,” Jim said quietly.

“It just doesn’t make sense and I have no idea why Spock has agreed with you.”

“I am loathe to rely on the vagaries of what others may deem a hunch, but Jim’s reasoning, while impulsive is just...” Spock paused, seemingly unable to admit something that didn’t fit in with his idea of a logical world.

If Spock had felt a pull to follow these guys, just like Jim had, then there was definitely something in it.

“They’re going into the tunnel,” Scotty said.

“Think they are heading back to the Village?” Sulu asked.

“They’re not officials, I can’t see how they could,” Pavel replied as he flicked through his phone looking for something.

“They got in the official area by the Arena though,” Sulu pointed out.

As they entered the Blackwell Tunnel, they all settled into silence. The only light inside the van was from Pavel’s phone and the lowlights of the Tunnel. It was a Monday night and the traffic was sparse.

“Don’t get too close,” Sulu pointed out.

“I’m the one driving here,” Scotty replied, but with a touch of amusement in his voice.

“Got it,” Pavel said as they came out of the tunnel and back into the yellow glow of the London nighttime.

Pavel held up his phone to show the others that he had a map up on his screen, tracking their progress. “Where they go, I should be able to predict so that we can remain unseen.”

“You and your maps,” Sulu said with a little smile.

“They’re not going to the Village,” Scotty said before Pavel and Sulu could start a new discussion on an old subject. “Turning left into Mile End Road.”

Scotty sped up the van to make sure he made it through the lights after the BMW, before dropping back a little and behind another car. Being in the van meant they could see the BMW even with other cars in the way.

“Incorrect, Mr. Scott,” Pavel said. “This is Bow Road.”

Scotty waved a hand in the air. “It becomes Mile End soon enough.”

Sulu shook his head at Pavel and Jim held in a laugh as he and Gaila looked at each other. Pavel had stopped whatever he had been about to say. There definitely was something between those two. Gaila was probably right about them and it made Jim think about what she had said about him and Bones.

Just thinking about his soft lips, and those hands, with long, gorgeous fingers sliding off Jim’s hips had Jim’s cock stirring again slightly. Jim brought up his legs so he could wrap his arms around his knees, hiding his semi-erection from everyone else in the van, especially the man next to him. Jim couldn’t help the little glances he kept sending his way, just to see if Bones was ready to speak to him yet. Jim ignored the smug look on Gaila’s face from her perch right behind the driver’s seat.

It was all her fault that he was finding Bones so attractive.

“Turning again, Mr. Chekov. Looks like they are heading towards Hackney,” Scotty said, raising his voice on the second sentence for everyone else in the van to hear.

“Is that good or bad, Mr. Scott?” Gaila asked.

“Depends who you believe, lass, and please call me Montgomery.”

“That’s a lovely name, Montgomery,” Gaila said as she leaned a little around the front seat.

“Not as lovely as yours,” Scotty replied.

Jim once again tried to hold in his laughter at Gaila flirting with Scotty and vice versa. He glanced at Bones who was looking at him. Once Jim’s attention was on him, Bones rolled his eyes and Jim could no longer hold in the laughter. Spock just looked confused.

Out the front window of the van, one of those red double decker buses unique to London trundled past. This was a view of London that was rare for them. They were always taken to and from all venues via the Olympic Route Network. Roads that had nice clean vistas, not what they were seeing here--graffitied walls of houses, roads that had been patched and re-patched. The real, working London.

Pavel and Sulu were discussing possible routes ahead where the Romanians might be going and Spock was listening in, joining in with a comment here or there. Jim kept one ear on that conversation, ignored Gaila and Scotty flirting and went back to watching the road and Bones in equal measure.

“I’m not going anywhere and I’ve done my yelling,” Bones said after a while.

“You’re never done with yelling. Just save it up for laters,” Jim replied.

“Don’t have to wait too long.”

“Let it out Bones, it can only help.”

Bones snorted. “We’re sitting in the back of a van traveling God knows where in London, with a Scotsman driving, on a wild goose chase. In those bags of yours are some Olympic Gold Medals and yet, we should all be back at the Village, relaxing and celebrating.”

“Can’t celebrate without Pike,” Jim pointed out and risked reaching out his hand to grasp onto Bones’ hand, which was laying relaxed along Bones’ leg.

Jim felt the moment of startle from Bones at the contact, before he relaxed.

“I know, Jim, it’s just...”

“I know,” Jim said in reply, leaning his head back against the van and closing his eyes, trying not to think of a worse case scenario. He didn’t want to be the one who had to tell Number One they hadn’t found Pike.

Even Gaila and Scotty had stopped their conversation as they drove along in silence. Just the traffic noises and the vibration from the engine were their comforts as they continued the trip.

“Damn,” Scotty said.

Jim opened his eyes and realized he was still holding Bones’ hand. More confusing, Bones had been letting him. Jim let go as he knelt up to see what had caused Scotty’s outburst.

Up ahead was an intersection and from the way Pavel was urgently talking to Scotty, it seemed there were a few options for the BMW to take.

“Get down, you lot, those tops are a wee bit obvious,” Scotty ordered.

They all obeyed, even Gaila, dropping down below the seat, which hid them from view. Jim resisted laughing inappropriately at Scotty, in his purple volunteer top, making comments about obvious looking tops.

Scotty turned a little to the right and then he swore before making a sharp left. Pavel was furiously checking his map.

“I’m pulling over,” Scotty announced.

“There is bus depot and lots of streets,” Pavel said.

“And no other cars except us two. The van’s almost as obvious as your tops.” Scotty turned off the lights, but Jim noted he hadn’t turned off the engine.

Jim decided to risk it and tried to look out, but Bones grabbed him on the arm and pulled him back down again.

“He’s gone round a bend,” Scotty said as he pulled out again.

“There is a bend to the right and then to the left. At the intersection they could go in three different directions, we need to see,” Pavel said.

“Turning left,” Scotty announced shortly after they went around the bend.

Jim was almost at the point of getting up to see. Having to listen and try and figure out what was going on in a place he was completely unfamiliar with was driving him nuts.

“He will either go right soon or down to the end.”

“Hang on, will keep creeping up and see,” Scotty said as the van slowed right down.

They all waited in silence as Scotty leaned forward to watch the progress of the BMW.

“Going to the end and going left,” he whispered.

“Yes!” Pavel announced. “Wait until they go, then follow. It’s two dead ends that way.”

Jim breathed out the tension that had been building up during the trip. Now he would find out if he had been right or wrong in his calculated hunch.

“Stop before you get to the end, Scotty. They might have stopped just past the corner. We can go on foot?” Jim looked at Pavel questioningly.

“Yes, good idea,” Pavel agreed as he consulted his map again as Scotty drove down the silent street, once again bathed in the yellow light from the street lights.

It had rained a little, even though it was July, and it made the dark asphalt of the road shiny. There didn’t appear to be any houses in this area, just some solid brick walls, a pointed glass roof of a factory or something, and up ahead some round metal steel work. They were huge--like an exoskeleton for a round building, but there was only air in the middle, no building. Jim had seen them on the flight into London, from the airplane window. He had no idea what they were, but they added to the industrial ambience of the area.

Ahead there were some plants hanging over a brick wall and Jim could see a faded glow from a back window. A rare house, but a house that was a part of four, all joined together in a row, which seemed to be so common in London.

Scotty still had the lights of the van off and Jim noticed that there was no more vibration from the engine, which Scotty had turned off. As he braked slowly, Jim could almost feel them all holding their breaths in as the van headed toward the intersection, but Scotty had timed his braking perfectly. The van pulled up at the side of the group of houses, just before the front of the end one. The only side window was high up on the second floor. No one inside the house should be able to see them.

Jim stood and moved over to open the side door.

“No,” Spock ordered.

Jim looked over at Spock in surprise at his whispered order.

“The door is noisy and would alert others to our presence.”

Jim looked back at the door and his hand on the handle. Spock was right, nothing could keep that door quiet.

Movement at the front of the van caught Jim’s attention. Scotty had moved over to the other side and was quietly opening the side passenger door.

“Climb over and out this way,” Scotty said, before he dropped silently down onto the sidewalk.

Jim was the first to move, climbing over the gap and then sliding out of the van to join Scotty, being mindful of the need to be as quiet as he could. Before Spock or the others could stop him, Jim snuck forward to get a better look around the corner. He was mindful of the light on the opposite side of the road, keeping low under the overhanging bushes along the front fence. No lights were showing on the house at the end as he peeked over the fence.

“Jim!” He heard his name being hissed out by Bones.

Jim waved a hand back to shush Bones as he took in the view ahead of him. There was a block of four houses together, a large tree in the front of the second one, but he could see lights on in the far end house. Jim crept forward again, sneaking carefully around the corner, just in case someone happened to be looking out.

“Fuck,” he involuntarily let out as he saw over the other side of the road a series of apartments with garage doors on the lower level. The Romanians could have driven into one of them and now be hidden away successfully.

The quiet of the night was broken by the sound of some voices reaching Jim’s ears from further down the road. Jim eagerly creeped forward again as he recognized a slavic language being spoken. Maybe tonight was their lucky night in more than one way. Almost on hands and knees, Jim leaned around the edge of the fence to see what he could. He pulled up his hoodie, thanking the dark blue of it to help hide him better. His grey jacket was tucked away in his bag, and for some reason he had known he needed to change into the hoodie for the trip back to the village. He thanked whatever muse or inspiration it was that made him decide do it.

It _was_ their lucky night. In front of the last house in the row was one of the guys that had been in the car, talking to a skinny, younger looking guy. Jim stayed still as he leaned forward trying to gauge any information he could. He couldn’t clearly hear what was being said, but as he didn’t know Romanian, it would have been fairly useless anyway, even if he could hear clearly. Uhura would have been perfect to have with the group, as Jim had lost count of the number of languages she could insult him in. He did know that one of them was Romanian.

Another minute of discussion between the two passed before the one he had seen earlier walked back into the house, leaving the other guy outside. As the door shut, Jim retreated and kept low as he headed back to his team.

He motioned them to move further back down the road, so he could tell them what he saw. In a hushed tone he reported in about the guy being left as a lookout.

“We found them, but we still don’t know about Pike,” Bones pointed out. “We can’t very well go up and knock on the door and ask.”

“Why not ask him?” Gaila asked as she pointed in the guy standing in front of the house.

“He’s the lookout, and I doubt we could just walk up in our U.S.A. gear and he will tell us that Pike is in there,” Sulu pointed out.

Jim and the others looked on speechless as Gaila started to take her pants off, while smiling at them.

“Ms. Oriana,” Spock finally managed to get out. At another time Jim might have laughed at Spock’s inability to stop Gaila stripping off. Gaila had on leggings underneath her tracksuit pants and she tossed the pants at Jim, before unzipping her jacket and also throwing that in his direction.

“Voila!” she declared as she lifted up her hands to untie her hair and let it fall down over her shoulders. “Now I’m not in U.S.A. gear.”

“Ms. Oriana,” Spock began again. “I can not allow you to be a part of this.”

“Tough titties,” Gaila responded, before turning and starting to pull Scotty’s top up. “Arms up Montgomery, we need to turn this inside out.”

Jim couldn’t help the little bit of laughter at the stunned look on both Spock and Scotty’s faces when confronted with the force of nature that was Gaila.

As she continued to undress and then re-dress Scotty, she laid out her plan. “Montgomery and I can distract the lookout, you guys can sneak up and grab him and we can bring him back here to question. I will be perfectly fine, Mr. Spock. Montgomery won’t let anything happen to me, will you Montgomery?”

“Never lass,” Scotty agreed. “It’s an insane plan, but I like it.”

Jim thought quickly that if they could get the guy by the tree, they could take him without being seen from within the house. The other option was to go over the back fence and try and see if they could get some information that way. Jim was about to suggest that possibility when Gaila’s patience wore out. She had grabbed Scotty by the arm and was running down the street and around the corner, doing a remarkably loud impression of a very drunk girl. Scotty’s laughter and then his thick accent were clearly heard.

There was nothing for it but to follow along with Gaila’s mad plan. He tossed her clothes at Sulu before running to follow Gaila and Scotty, crouched over to stay underneath the level of the garden wall. He thought he remembered a half brick lying on the ground and sure enough, it was still there, not a figment of his imagination. He stopped to pick it up and felt a presence beside him. Spock had joined him.

“Mr. Scott is correct, this is insane, but I would be derelict if I did not lend my assistance.”

A third voice had joined Gaila’s and Scotty’s. Jim risked the chance and crept forward again as he had before, almost on all fours. The hand with the half brick he kept close to his chest. Gaila had done as she said she would. The lookout was having a hard time getting away from her and she had backed him along the street without him realizing. He could have walked around her, if he thought about it, but Jim knew the power of Gaila’s intent well. Almost no one said no to her.

Just as she got the guy back in line with the tree and out of sight of the house, Jim took off, running on the tips of his toes to be as silent as possible. He lifted up the brick in his hand, ready to knock the guy out as silently as possible.

A woosh of air surprised him as Spock ran past and, with some strange grab on the guy’s neck, made him drop as if in a faint.

Gaila and Scotty rushed forward to help Spock catch the guy as he fell. Jim mentally shook himself and leaped forward as well, grabbing the guy by the legs and, with a nod at Spock, they carried him quickly back around the corner.

Bones, Sulu and Pavel were waiting, just as they had left them on the other side of the house.

“Great, now we’ve kidnapped some random guy,” Bones complained as they laid the lookout down gently. “And what did you do with that, Jim?”

Jim looked down to see that he still had the half brick in his hand. “Ah, was gonna convince him to come with us.”

“I thought the whole stupid idea was so that we could question the lookout. It’s a bit hard when you’ve brained him on the head.”

“Well, it happened pretty quick, and I didn’t do it! Spock did some ninja thing on his neck and now he’s all sleepy. You’ve so gotta show me that sometime,” Jim said, looking at Spock with a little bit of wonder.

“The risk of the man making noise was unacceptable. I employed pressure on some nerves and immobilized him for the moment,” Spock said, ignoring Jim’s request.

Bones was carefully looking over his new patient, pulling back his eyelids. “And this moment is going to last how long?” Bones asked, sarcasm on full.

“Jim,” Pavel hissed from where he was standing and watching over the fence.

Whatever Pavel wanted to tell him, a voice yelling out “Cezar!” told Jim instead. The lookout now had a name.

Jim left Bones looking after ‘Cezar’, while he ran over to Pavel, flattening himself along the wall. Sulu, Spock and Scotty joined him. They listened while the man called for Cezar a few more times, before saying something muffled. Jim presumed he was talking to someone inside the house.

There was another bit of muffled noise and then Pavel breathed out, “ _Nyet_!”

He turned to look at them and whispered a name that got their undivided attention. “Pike!”

Jim risked a look and sure enough they were bringing Pike down the steps. Pike was being held between two of them and the way his head was lolling forward, he was possibly as comatose as Cezar. Mind made up in an instant, Jim turned to Scotty and said, “Van,” before he took off running around the corner once more, not caring to hide his presence this time. He was going to get Pike, come hell or high water.

They didn’t spot him until he got near to the tree and then they started yelling. He heard some steps behind him, but didn’t know who had followed. The element of surprise was almost gone, but he remembered the half-brick still in his hand. The first guy came running at him, but Jim just gripped the half-brick and swung. He felt the moment it connected with the other guy’s skull, though he didn’t have time to stop and see what damage had been done. A guy still on the steps was yelling at the two with Pike and they were almost running now, dragging Pike along with them as they headed for the BMW parked down a side alley.

Jim charged, shoulder down, just as he had learned playing football in high school. As he went down, taking one of Pike’s guys with him, he twisted and tried to bring the half-brick back into play. The ground met him quickly and knocked a little bit of breath from him. It halted his swing just enough that the other guy got a solid whack on Jim’s face, but Jim wasn’t having any of that. He had spent enough time in bar brawls to know his way around a scrap so he swung again, hearing a satisfying thwack as the brick connected.

Movement off to the side attracted his attention. He twisted and was about to come up to his feet and go after the other guy when he saw a booted foot swinging his way. He twisted back the other way, ready to take the hit along his back instead of his face, but it never came.

“No you don’t,” he heard Pike grunt out.

Jim rolled back over and saw that Pike had launched himself at the other guy and brought them both to ground. Pike was groaning and about to get hit, so Jim sprang forward and punched the guy in the face, hard. A quick look around showed that one guy was down, Sulu was dealing with the guy at the door and Spock, well Spock was doing some weird martial arts move that brought down two guys.

The van roared around the corner and Jim grabbed Pike, lifting him up and apologizing as he groaned again. They stumbled out onto the sidewalk as Scotty pulled the van up onto the curb.

“Great timing, Scotty,” Jim yelled as he pulled and dragged Pike with him out onto the road and around to the other side of the van.

“Jim!” Bones yelled as he jumped down from the open side doorway to help Jim with Pike.

“Bones,” Jim replied, very relieved to see Bones waiting for him.

“Sulu! Spock! Get in!” Jim yelled as they lowered Pike none too gently to the floor.

Gaila was already making a pillow under Pike’s head with her discarded top and pants from earlier, and Bones was starting to check him over, talking to him quietly. Jim looked back to see Sulu jumping in and sliding a little sideways to make sure he didn’t land on Pike or the still sleeping Cezar, who was in the van as well. Spock placed a solid kick on the one remaining Romanian outside and ran for the van. Jim had never seen Spock move with the speed he had this evening. There were hidden depths to the guy.

“Go! Go! Go!” Jim yelled at Scotty as Spock started to close the side door.

Scotty shoved the van into reverse and Jim instinctively grabbed out to make sure that Bones didn’t fall over. He had to grab again, as Scotty slammed on the brakes and then accelerated forward around a corner, back down the street they had been parked on.

“Get us back to the Village, Scotty,” Jim ordered. “Pavel, check and make sure we aren’t being followed.”

“Yes, sir!” Pavel replied, sitting up so he could see out the back windows of the van.

The adrenaline of the fight was starting to wear off, and Jim sat down, inadvertently on his bag. As he pulled it out from underneath him, he heard Pike groan.

Gaila was still sitting at Pike’s head, one hand braced on the side of the van, the other ready to help protect Pike. Spock had moved to his other side and next to Jim, and, leaning over Pike still talking to him quietly, was Bones. Sulu and Pavel were acting as the lookout and Scotty was driving at a speed the van had probably never been at in its life up to this point.

Jim looked over to where Cezar was lying, noticing that a jacket had been rolled up and placed under his head as well. It was obviously Bones’ jacket as he was no longer wearing one. Jim raised an eyebrow at Bones, querying the presence of the Romanian in the van with them. Bones sensed Jim’s stare and looked up from Pike. Jim just shifted his eye-line to Cezar and then back to Bones.

“What? I’m not leaving an injured person just lying around,” Bones grouched before he returned his attention to Pike.

Pike pushed Bones’ hand away and tried to raise himself up but groaned and, with a solid push from Bones, dropped back down.

“You stay right there, Christopher, until I tell you otherwise. Scotty!” Bones yelled as Scotty took another corner fast and all four of them grabbed onto Pike to stop him rolling into the side of the van. How the van had stayed on four wheels, Jim didn’t know. Scotty was a demon.

“They are not following,” Pavel reported.

“You sure?” Scotty asked.

“He’s sure,” Sulu confirmed.

As Scotty slowed the van down, Gaila moved to grab Bones’ bag from the other side and passed it to Bones. While Bones was looking inside it for whatever he needed, Jim scooted a little closer to Pike.

“Hey, sir. Kinda missed you tonight,” he said.

Pike was watching Jim from between narrowed eyelids, as if it hurt to open his eyes fully.

“Mr. Kirk, you and I will be having a discussion shortly about your propensity to engage in brawls. I thought we had knocked that desire on the head,” Pike said as he pointed at Jim’s face.

Jim lifted up his hand to touch his cheek and hissed at the pain he felt. He was going to have a great shiner tomorrow.

“It was for a good cause,” Jim retorted. He blinked as Bones shined the little pen light in his direction.

“When he’s finished chewing you out, then it will be my turn. Of all the stupid, idiotic...I give up really,” Bones complained.

Jim couldn’t see Bones’ face, as the light was too bright and then he had to blink when Bones turned the light and his attention onto Pike. Pike hissed as Bones lifted up his eyelids and checked his pupils.

“Captain,” Spock said, laying a hand on Pike’s shoulder.

“Hurts,” Pike admitted.

Jim wasn’t sure if he was saying that to Spock or to Bones, who was now asking some other questions. They all sat in silence to watch Bones care for the Captain.

After a while, Pike was becoming testy and not being helpful and Jim could see how agitated Bones was getting. You didn’t mess with Bones when he was trying to be all doctorly, even if you were the patient.

“Let me sit up!” Pike was ordering Bones.

“You’ll sit up when I let you sit up. For now you’re staying right here, even if I have to tie you down.”

“With what?” Pike sassed back as he glanced around the van, which was pretty empty of rope or other suitable materials.

Jim reached into his bag, grabbed his medal and pulled it out to dangle it in full view of Pike.

“Could always use this,” he said, trying not to laugh at the look on Pike’s face.

“You smart assed little...” Pike started to say.

“Now, now, Captain. Is that any way to talk to an Olympic gold medalist? Got two other medals around here too, pretty sure we could help Bones out here to keep you in place. Or if he tells me to, I’ll sit on you.”

Pike let out a snort. “Call off your dog,” he told Bones.

“Gentleman and Gaila, we’re here,” Scotty announced.

“Captain, do you have your Identification?” Spock asked.

Pike brought his hand up to grab at his chest, groping for his I.D. that was not there.

“Mr. Scott, if you would be so kind to park the van over there.” Spock pointed to a space.

“There’s coppers,” Scotty pointed out.

Jim leaned over and looked out the window. Sure enough, Scotty was right, there were two cop cars, and some very familiar faces of the higher up U.S. Team officials.

“I alerted the relevant people,” Spock said at Jim’s quizzical look in his direction as he raised his hand up to show his phone. “Also I am sure they will be keen to converse with this man.” Spock pointed at Cezar.

“Are there--” Bones started to say before Spock interrupted him.

“I have arranged for medical staff as well.”

“Ah,” Jim said as the repercussions of the night started to dawn on him. Cops and him had never been the best of buddies.

“Yes, Jim, you’ll have a bit of explaining to do. And when they finish with you, I want to see you,” Bones ordered, not once looking at Jim, his focus was still completely on Pike. “If you don’t, I’ll tell Pike about the _Kobayashi Maru_.”

The door to the van opened and questions came firing at them from all directions. Jim thought it might be a good idea before Pike comprehended what Bones had just said. Spock was the first to leave, holding up his hands to try and placate everyone.

“We might be in a bit of trouble,” Jim said to Sulu as he looked over the group waiting for them, and ignoring the yell to explain himself coming from Pike still inside the van.

“You think?” Sulu said as he slapped Jim on the shoulder. “Would do the same thing over again though.”

Jim remembered how fluid Sulu had been in those moments that he saw him fighting. “We really should do it again sometime.”

Sulu laughed as he followed Jim out of the van, ready to face the music.

oOo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sheeps Lane, London's Field is where Pike is being held, but I made a little decision to turn it into a dead end street. Just pretend that it stops before the bridge, if you look it up on a map. ;) 
> 
> I found these lovely night shots of the area which I am sure my descriptions in the story don't do justice - http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfschafer/4516367994/in/photostream/


	4. Tuesday, 31 July 2012 & Wednesday, 1 August 2012

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pike is back, safe and sound, but things are still not quite right between the US' golden boy of gymnastics and the Team Doctor. Jim's teammates might just have a few suggestions and comments to help him figure things out.

Jim took another bite of the pasta which he had selected for his dinner and ignored the comments from whoever it was who had just walked behind him about him still wearing his shades.

“Training mishap? That’s really what we are sticking to?” Sulu asked as he waved his fork in the air, tomato stuck to it.

Jim lifted his eyes to glance over the top of the shades that had slipped down his nose a bit. Night had drifted in, but the sun had been shining in his direction from a gap in the buildings when they had chosen an outside table to eat their meal at, hence him wearing his sunglasses. He had just been too lazy to take them off; food had been more important at that moment.

“Pike’s orders. No matter who asks us, that’s the reason, not some late night excursion into Hackney. It’s way more believable than the missing teeth on Kim at the ‘92 Games.”

Before the others could respond, they were distracted by Gaila pulling the spare chair out at their table and seating herself with a complete lack of her usual grace.

“Thought you were staying a bit longer at the Arena?” Jim asked.

“I have a date,” Gaila said as she leaned forward and picked up a piece of spirali off of Jim’s plate and popped it in her mouth before grinning at them. “Nyota has lots of media to do anyway. At least I won’t have to worry about that when it’s my turn.”

“Don’t think this is a dinner date,” Jim observed. He didn’t hide his smile at the laughter from Pavel and Sulu.

“Oh, there is dinner,” Gaila replied. “You are just going to have to find someone else to, hmm, work out your frustrations this evening.” Gaila stole another piece of pasta.

“That won’t be hard around here,” Jim pointed out, smacking her hand lightly but letting her steal the food anyway.

Once more she popped it into her mouth, but she retaliated to the little smack by leaning forward again and quickly removing Jim’s shades. Jim just gave her a look. Like many other times, Jim found himself being inspected closely by Gaila. Blue eyes looking closely at the black eye that he was now sporting and the reason for the previous conversation.

“I think though, that you would only want attention from Leonard tonight.”

Jim was sure the look on his face was pretty disbelieving.

“We all heard the way you called out his name last night when Montgomery brought the van around,” Gaila continued.

“I did not,” Jim protested. He had no idea what Gaila was talking about.

“Bones!” Gaila cried out in some strange impression she must of thought sounded like Jim.

Jim just shook his head at her before speaking his thoughts out loud, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Jim, you did call out to Dr. McCoy,” Pavel said.

“Well, I had Pike, he needed medical attention,” Jim said.

Gaila gave him one of her fond ‘I don’t believe you just said that’ looks. “Whatever! I should go get ready,” Gaila said as she stood up. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to Jim’s cheek before whispering in his ear low enough so the others couldn’t hear, “I only tease because I care and I know how you get the night before. If you sleep with anyone but Leonard, you’ll regret it and possibly him too. I saw you holding his hand.”

“Hikaru, give me a hug,” Gaila said as she walked behind Jim, who was pretending to be engrossed in his meal, trying to ignore Gaila’s last advice.

“Don’t do anything I won’t,” Sulu told her.

“I solemnly swear I will do lots more than you will.” Gaila waggled her eyebrows at Sulu before stepping into another hug, this time from Pavel. “Look after him tonight, and make sure he is perfect for tomorrow.”

Pavel replied to Gaila in Russian, and all three of them waved goodbye to Gaila as she jogged effortlessly in the direction of their apartment block. Jim snorted quietly as he noticed almost everyone stop and watch her as she passed them. There was a quiet conversation going on with Sulu and Pavel, so Jim stood up with his plate.

“I’ll catch you guys later,” Jim said as he started to walk back to the dining hall to return his plate. He resisted looking around to see what the expressions on the faces of the other two were.

Once the plate was returned, he stood for a moment, a little nonplussed as to where to go next. He had possibly figured out what moment Gaila was referring to. He had called out Bones’ name, but that was in relief to see the van, and Bones had just been... there.

Jim sighed and took a different route out of the dining hall so he wouldn’t walk past the outdoor dining area before heading in the same direction as Gaila.

It was only a short distance and instead of waiting for the elevator with a group of Italians already there, he headed for the stairs. He took them two at a time, so by the time he was walking into his and Bones’ room he was breathing heavily.

Bones was seated on the couch, doing some paperwork or something on his laptop. He had a little notebook next to him he was looking at.

“Hey,” Jim greeted as Bones looked up.

Bones looked at his watch, before looking back at Jim. “What’re you doing back?”

“Jeez mom, I didn’t know I would get told off for being back before curfew,” Jim sassed. A little part of him needed to prod at Bones, to get him to react somehow and take Jim’s mind off how attractive Bones was. It was all Gaila’s fault and possibly Bones’ too.

“It’s the night before Individuals--” Bones started to say before Jim interrupted him.

“First you are mom and now Captain Obvious.”

“What’s made you so snippity? Wait a minute, where’s Gaila?”

Jim started to walk past Bones, but that stopped him. “She has a date.”

“Ahh.” Bones had that smile on his face. The little sly one that had Jim thinking bad, bad thoughts.

“Ahh what?’ Jim asked.

“That explains it. You ain’t gettin’ laid tonight and so it’s pissed-off-Jim I get to deal with.”

“I don’t need to get laid!”

Bones was still smiling at him and Jim wanted to wipe that smile off his face.

“You still wrongly believe that getting laid the night before makes you all looser and able to perform better,” Bones said.

“There is--”

“There is no scientific proof of that theory, no matter how much you try and test it,” Bones talked over the top of Jim.

“I didn’t get laid the other night,” Jim pointed out, hands on his hips and looking down at Bones, who had now leaned back into the couch, a smug smile still on his face.

“Fine, you jerked off in the shower instead. I probably wasn’t the only one who heard you.”

Jim decided he had had enough of being on the defensive side of this conversation. It was time to turn it back around.

“And we won, so you might be onto something. I should probably stick to that routine a bit,” Jim said as he walked the couple of steps into the bedroom. His bed was closest to the door, so he got rid of his shoes and socks and lay down on the bed. For a moment he closed his eyes and thought about what Gaila had said and how it had felt to just have his hand over Bones’ yesterday. His cock started to stir a little at the memory of Bones’ magic hands. Of how many times he had helped fix Jim’s aches and pains. No matter what happened or what trouble Jim got himself into, he always trusted that Bones would be there for him.

Jim plumped up his pillows so he could see down his body a bit better. He kept one hand behind his head while the other started to rub his cock. He bit his lip when he remembered Bones lying over him in the van, those hazel eyes staring down. All the little bits of Bones’ body that attracted him were next on the list he was developing in his mind. The exceptional ass, his broad shoulders, and the way his Southern accent got stronger the angrier he got or, he hoped, when Bones was turned on. Jim rubbed harder, the friction of his pants increasing the feeling and his cock swelled appreciatively. The best image though, was of Bones from that club they had gone out to earlier in the year.

Jim had found a gorgeous partner for the evening and had left Bones to enjoy himself as well. He had gotten to the door when she remembered she had left her jacket behind. Jim, being the gentleman that his mom had taught him to be, offered to go back and get it. He didn’t expect to see what he did when he got to the jacket still hanging over the back of the chair.

Bones kissing a guy.

In high school, Jim had figured out that he was bi. He liked women a bit more, probably on the 60-40 ratio, but he hadn’t known that Bones was bi too, until then. The guy had his hands on Bones’ ass and Bones had his hands on the guy’s head, holding him in place and it seemed he was enjoying the kiss. Jim didn’t get a good look at the guy from the back view, but he thought he recognized him from earlier. Blond, good physique and fairly attractive. Bones did have exceptional taste in women, and his taste in men seemed to be just as discriminating. Jim smiled and had quietly said, “Right on,” before he turned, jacket in hand and headed back to his date for the evening.

Would Bones let him grab his ass? Would he grab Jim’s? The idea of Bones gripping hard and pulling his cheeks apart, made Jim groan a little.

“Jim! You better not be--”

Jim opened his eyes in shock, pulling him out of his imagination. Bones was standing just inside the doorway and looking at where Jim’s hand was only just covering his clothed cock. Bones now appeared to be speechless.

“You thought I was jerking off?” Jim asked, knowing his smile was as broad as his cock was hard. It had leaped a little when he’d seen Bones and his parted lips. They would look spectacular around his cock, Jim couldn’t help thinking. He probably shouldn’t be fantasizing about his best friend, but Gaila had started it and then yesterday had happened.

Bones’ mouth opened a few times as if to bring forth speech. Nothing came out until finally he got mastery over his voice.

“What do you call that then?” Bones pointed at Jim’s now still hand.

“Yeah, but you thought I was gonna be naked, or at least have ‘Little Tiberius’ out? And still you came in here,” Jim pointed out.

“Fuck’s sake, only you would name your dick.” Bones was giving a look at the ceiling, as if God was going to respond to his call for help to deal with idiots.

Jim really hoped that God didn’t join in this conversation.

“I can name yours too, if you want. Bones’ boner? Nah too obvious...”

“Jim,” Bones growled.

“You’ve advocated sticking to a routine before a competition and that includes the meal and the night before. So here’s me sticking to my routine,” Jim said, rubbing a little up and down on his cock which really was still quite interested in the attention.

“Your routine was not in this room! I sleep there for Christ’s sake, and the door is wide open.” Bones gesticulated with one hand in one direction and then the other back out toward the lounge.

“Fine, I’ll jerk off in the shower again then. Makes cleaning up easier.” Jim sat up and started to shimmy down the bed, right in Bones’ direction.

Bones took a step back, a little disturbed it seemed, and Jim wondered if maybe Bones was attracted to him too? There _were_ those touches during the competition yesterday, but they had been so fleeting that maybe Jim had imagined more to them, and there was also the time in the van when Bones had let him hold his hand. Jim knew that Bones had more scruples than him most of the time, and he would be a bit more hesitant about pushing the boundaries of their friendship. Jim liked to push limits though, so he watched Bones carefully.

“I have no idea what goes on in ass-backward Iowa to make you think jerking off in the same room where someone else sleeps...” Bones had his hands on his hips and Jim’s cock leaped a little again to hear his accent getting thicker. Not to mention Jim’s glance down at what Bones’ hands on his hips were highlighting--Bones’ own nicely sized cock that helped fill out his pants.

He wondered if anger or desire was the cause of the thickening accent.

“Yeah, ‘cause down South no one jerks off. Amazed y’all are able to procreate at all!” Jim slowly stood up from the end of the bed.

Bones had retreated just a little into the small corridor between the bedroom and the bathroom.

“Ass-backward as I said, no one gets pregnant from jerking off,” Bones spat out and Jim could see the resistance he was employing not to poke his finger at Jim, his hand twitching at his side.

“Do tell, doctor. Care to give me any other advice about sex?” Jim asked as he brought both hands to cup over his cock and rub slowly up and down.

“Unbelievable!” Bones snapped before he turned and retreated back into the lounge area, Jim’s laughter following him.

“You have ten minutes, no, fifteen and then I’ll be back. You are impossible the night before.”

Jim heard Bones snap his laptop shut and then saw him heading for the door, carrying it.

Jim dropped his head back to thunk a little on the doorframe. He opened his eyes and looked back into the bedroom. On the other side of the room was Bones’ bed and Jim knew it was going to smell like Bones. He had been a bit of an asshole in pushing at Bones, but if Bones had stayed Jim wouldn’t have been able to jerk off with him in the next room. He would have gone out and asked for help. Well, maybe not asked, there would have been kissing and Jim straddling his lap, and grinding and, fuck, moaning. Which Jim was now doing as he rubbed harder again.

Others liked to claim he leaped without looking, and it was probably one of the stupidest things he could do, but Jim grabbed the box of tissues and walked quickly over to Bones’ bed. The tissues were tossed to the side of the bed before Jim dropped down onto it, inhaling the faint traces of Bones’ favorite aftershave and that smell that was just _him_. Jim pushed his pants down quickly and then pulled his top off and tossed it back onto his own bed. He got one leg out of the pants before his cock was just too demanding and wanted attention.

Now Jim let the fantasies, that he didn’t know he’d had hiding in his subconscious, roam freely. Bones’ hands, his tongue, Bones did like to kiss with tongue. Jim had seem him seduce enough women with his tongue, via honeyed words coated around a Deep South accent and then chasing those words into the woman’s mouth and enticing her tongue to come out and play. Fuck, Bones rimming his ass would be divine. Jim dwelled on that, the feel of it, the way his balls were now heavy with need. He used one hand to play with his balls, rubbing them and squeezing while his pre-cum was being spread up and down his cock by his other hand. It burned a little, but Jim liked that. The imaginary Bones in his head was now sucking on his balls before trailing his tongue up Jim’s cock. Bones would tease with his tongue, promising to suck his head in but always just sliding back down his cock again, never giving Jim what he wanted straight away.

Jim’s hand on his balls drifted a little lower and his index finger teased at the entrance to his ass. It’d been awhile since Jim had been fucked and his nerves were begging for attention. Jim thought about Bones above him, intent and hot with the tip of his cock at his entrance. Jim planted his feet on the bed and lifted his hips up for better access. As his finger slipped just inside his hole, he thought about how it would feel if it was Bones.

“Fuck!” he cried out as his cock pulsed and he came. He pushed his finger further in to increase the feeling and his hips stuttered. It was intense and hot and cold at the same time. His skin felt heated and his finger, which he pulled out slowly, created a burn of near pleasure. His seed on his chest was the cold, and his other hand reached over to pull out a few tissues to wipe himself up with.

As he breathed heavily, coming back down from the orgasm, he was kinda glad that Bones wasn’t around. No way would he have been able to keep that in. He lay for a moment with his eyes shut and the tissues wadded up into a ball on his chest.

Eventually he shook himself and sat up, picking up the tissues. Going to sleep on Bones’ bed, almost naked, probably wasn’t the best idea. He was about to toss the tissues into the bin, but they smelled and it would have been obvious that Jim had jerked off in the room and not in the bathroom. He pulled off his pants with his other hand and stood, tossing the pants onto his bed and walked bare-assed into the bathroom. He flushed the evidence down the toilet and looked at the shower.

Before he got in, he had to do something. He got his phone from the lounge and wandered back to lean on the door frame again. After he sent this message, he was going to neaten up Bones’ bed and _then_ have a shower.

_Sorry. I was an asshole._

oOo

“For Fuck’s sake, Jim! You did _not_ need to do that vault again. I have no idea what goes through your head at times!”

Jim glanced down at his medal and back up at Bones who was still ranting about all the things that could have gone wrong with the vault. No one else was in the corridor apart from the two of them, Pike, Spock, and Sulu as they walked back to the training gym after the medal ceremony.

Ever since Pike had made his reappearance at the competition, much to the surprise of Nero, the team had made sure that two team members were always with Pike. With him being in a wheelchair, it meant that there was always someone to push him around anyway. His treatment at the hands of the Romanians had caused some issues with bruising around his spine or something, Bones had said. At least they kept the bruises they had given Pike where they could be hidden by clothes, and the story that Pike had a virus was more or less believed. The U.K. police had talked to them all about keeping things quiet, as it was an ongoing investigation and, while Nero was suspected, there was no real link yet to prove he was involved. Deporting the head coach of a sporting team at the Olympics would be big news if it happened. There was no love lost between the media and the police here and they had already had a lot of bad press leading into the Games, Jim had heard.

“I understand your friendship is close. Are you acquainted with a way to make the Doctor cease his complaints?” Spock asked Jim quietly as they continued the walk down the corridor.

Bones was still ranting but he had turned around, causing them all to stop. Bones now was poking Jim in the chest as well as alternating with his complaints distributed between Jim and Spock about their foolhardiness and blatant stupidity. At least with Bones you knew it wasn’t going to devolve into a comment about parentage, no matter how angry he got. There were just some lines he didn’t cross.

Jim had had enough of Bones’ complaints though, as he had been at it quietly since vault rotation and he knew that Bones was mostly just venting his frustrations about Pike, free to do so now that he was safely back. He knew that Bones was also frustrated by Jim doing The Vault, but while Jim could mostly handle Bones’ complaints, the others didn’t need to hear it. So, Jim did what he thought was the logical thing to do to shut Bones up.

He grabbed Bones’ face, which shocked Bones just for a moment and as Bones opened his mouth to speak again, Jim closed the distance and kissed him. It was brief, as Jim knew there was an audience, but the man had been driving him nuts for over a day with his presence. Jim had woken up with one hell of a hard on and the remnants of a dream that almost brought him back to his teen years. Waking up with come on the sheets was not something a guy his age should still be doing. He had even started to rub himself off under the sheets as he looked over at Bones, who had kicked the quilt down around his hips, showing off the gentle curve of his spine. Bones groaning and rolling over had Jim leaping out of the bed, almost setting a new record for the high jump, before he made a run for the bathroom.

Bones’ lips were soft and slightly parted and as much as Jim wanted to press his advantage, the silence around them reminded him that there were others near. He pulled away, staring into Bones’ eyes which were looking back at him, a little confused.

“That do?” Jim asked Spock as his hands slowly slid off Bones’ face.

Bones was blinking, still stunned. Jim knew he was a good kisser, even when he was a nobody back in Riverside, before he started winning gymnastic competitions, he had gotten plenty of compliments. That wasn’t even his best kiss.

“It has achieved the desired result, but I will not be endeavoring to employ that method in the future,” Spock replied as he pushed Pike past Jim and Bones.

“Anytime you need,” Jim offered.

Pike had a look on his face that promised he would be talking with Jim later. Sulu followed the other two quickly, leaving just Bones and Jim in the corridor.

“Bones--,” Jim started to say, reaching for Bones again, but this time to just touch him on the hip. He wanted, needed, to touch and connect with Bones.

“Don’t, Jim,” Bones bit out, looking a bit angry at Jim before he turned and stormed off, leaving Jim alone in the corridor with his medal.

Jim sighed deeply as he glanced down at the medal, a moment when he should be on top of the world, but he wondered if he had just fucked things up majorly instead.

oOo

Jim stood outside the door to their room and leaned forward to rest his head on it. He had endured an interesting talk with Pike about what had happened. Jim had been inclined to attempt to brush it off, but one look at Pike’s face and he knew that wasn’t going to wash. Some truths came out that he hadn’t fully been cognizant of. He wanted more than just a fuck with Bones; he didn’t exactly say that to Pike, just the general gist of it. As such, he was told to tread carefully with his actions. There wasn’t anything official about athletes and officials in relationships but it _was_ frowned upon.

Bones had kept well away from Jim, even going back to the village early instead of waiting around like he always did. Gaila had obviously been told by Sulu what had happened and she gave Jim a high five as he had walked over to her. Her approval was infectious, but he missed the feeling when Bones was near. The media and more drug testing kept him at the venue longer, so much so that the trip back it was just Spock, Pike, Sulu and Jim on the bus. It was a lot quieter than what you would expect when there was an olympic gold and bronze medal in their possessions.

With a deep breath, Jim waved his pass over the reader and opened the door. His bracing for dealing with an angry Bones had come to naught. As Jim moved around the room, he saw that Bones wasn’t there. It seemed he had been in the room but then left. Jim wondered if he had gone to dinner. Jim looked over at his medal, now back its case, just missing Bones and wanting him to be there in the room with him.

oOo

It was late when Jim returned after his own dinner with Sulu and Pavel who, thankfully, didn’t say anything about Bones and him. Bones still wasn’t in their room. Jim picked up his phone and looked at it, thinking about sending a message to Bones, but he put the phone down, picked up his laptop and opened it up to start reading one of the books he had loaded up on there before coming to the U.K.

Eventually Jim took himself to bed, but he couldn’t sleep. He was worried about Bones, especially considering what had happened with Pike. He thought he might have dozed lightly but he was fully awake when he heard the door to the apartment open. Bones had finally returned.

Jim lay on his side, listening to Bones come in quietly and make his way through their room in the dark. Bones started to take his clothes off in preparation for going to bed so Jim bided his time, his back turned until he heard Bones pulling the quilt back.

“Where have you been?” Jim asked.

“Jesus, Jim, you scared the crap outta me!” Bones replied, getting into his bed.

Jim rolled over so he could see Bones by the low ambient night light that was flowing into their room from the window. “And you didn’t think I would be worried where you were? Especially after Pike had gone missing?”

Bones just humphed and rolled over so his back was to Jim, pulling up the quilt.

“Great. I get the silent treatment. You really are the pot!”

Bones rolled over onto his back with a growl and his hands showed his frustration at Jim with a gesture toward the ceiling. A deep sigh emanated from Bones before he spoke. “I can’t believe you! You think just ‘cause you go around and kiss someone that they are immediately going to be attracted to you. You don’t have that great a power to turn someone Kirk-sexual,” Bones bit out.

“Well, I know I don’t have the power to turn you bi. Can’t turn someone into something they already are,” Jim replied just as angrily.

“What?” Bones snapped.

“I’ve seen you kiss a guy and enjoy it.”

Bones made a little pshaw sort of noise as he stared back up at the ceiling, ignoring Jim again.

“You have,” Jim pushed.

“Fine, but that still doesn’t mean I like you.”

“Bullshit!”

“Oh, listen to the Great James T. Kirk, who can’t believe someone isn’t interested in him.”

Jim wasn’t going to stand for that. He got out of bed and before Bones could do anything about it, was perched over the top of Bones on his bed, holding him in place with his hands and knees.

“Jim,” Bones said warily.

Jim could see how still Bones was holding himself. “You are,” Jim said, looking closely at Bones’ face and the whites of his eyes, seeing how nervous Bones was with the situation.

“Ah!” Jim cried as Bones pushed him heavily on his chest causing him to sprawl inelegantly on the floor after rolling off the bed with a thunk. “That hurt!” Jim complained as he shook the wrist which had taken most of his weight as he fell.

Bones got out of bed, clad only in his tight cotton boxer briefs and bending over Jim, started to inspect Jim’s wrist. Jim knew Bones couldn’t see much and it was almost next to useless looking at his wrist with the minimal light in the room, but Bones had his hands on him and Jim had an unimpeded view of Bones’ cock in his underwear. If his memory served him correctly, Bones was a little hard and bigger than Jim had seen before.

Jim licked his lips and thought about reaching up with his other hand and just touching Bones, to just feel that cock under his hand, its heat and its heavy weight. Before he could do something so stupid, Bones had dropped his hand and was striding away. Jim shielded his eyes as Bones turned on the light. He scrambled to stand up and face Bones, who was stepping back to lift up Jim’s wrist again.

“Does this hurt?” Bones asked as he pushed a little on Jim’s wrist.

“If I say yes, will you kiss it better?”

“Jim!” Bones dropped Jim’s hand and strode away to the light switch again.

“Speaking of kisses, you liked mine.”

Bones stopped, his hand hovering just over the switch with his back to Jim.

Jim took in the tension in his shoulders, the elegant line of his back and the fucking gorgeous ass highlighted perfectly by the light. He wanted to caress it just as closely as the light was.

“No,” Bones said quietly.

Jim marched over and spun Bones around, holding him by his upper arms as he glared at him. “Yes, you did. If you didn’t, you would have pushed me away. You had time.”

Bones swallowed and Jim watched his Adam’s apple move up and down, the rest of Bones perfectly still. Jim decided to test his theory and leaned in close, so close that their noses were touching and his upper body was pressed to Bones’.

“If you didn’t and you aren’t anticipating right now that I will again, why are you half hard?” Jim whispered. On his final question he stepped up so that Bones could feel exactly how hard Jim was for him and watched carefully for Bones’ reaction, a flare in his eyes as he held himself still.

“Fuck, Bones. You feel so good,” Jim said as he glanced down at Bones’ lips and the temptation they were to Jim. Jim thought about all the reasons why he should resist, but when Bones let out a little whimper and a movement that rubbed their cocks together, Jim threw all caution to the wind.

Kissing Bones was...good. Somewhere in his mind he knew the word was inadequate, but most of his thinking was just on making this second kiss way better than the first. Jim managed to grope along the wall behind him and turn the light off. Bones’ lips were as soft as he remembered from the brief kiss earlier, but his hands were strong and sure on Jim’s ass. Bones lifted him a little so that their cocks would rub harder against each other. Jim’s hands scrambled across the smooth skin of Bones’ back, trying to find a bit of purchase while pressing Bones into the wall.

As Jim opened his mouth a little to flick out his tongue, he pulled Bones toward him, angling so they could walk, unsteadily, toward Jim’s bed. Bones groaned at the flick of the tongue and chased it with his own, deepening the kiss. Jim pulled and fell backward, relaxing his body just as he would if he was falling back onto a crash mat. Bones didn’t have the same training as Jim, so he landed solidly on Jim and broke their kiss.

“Ugh,” Jim let out involuntarily when Bones landed on him, before he started to wriggle up the bed, enticing Bones to come with him.

“Jim, wait,” Bones said as he raised himself up on his hands.

Jim had wriggled a little further up and his underwear had started to come down, his cock now pushing out the top and rubbing on Bones’ belly. Bones was breathing heavily and his head was down, granting Jim a view of the deep chestnut colour of his hair. Bones dropped his head further down to rest on Jim’s chest and Jim jumped a little to feel Bones breathing on his skin.

“Jim,” Bones said as he looked up. Even in the almost dark Jim could see that Bones wasn’t happy.

Jim resisted touching Bones, he knew if he did it would just scare him off quicker and Jim’s cock was begging for attention.

“Whatever you are thinking, stop it,” Jim said. “I want you and I know you want me too.”

“Jim, you’re an athlete and I’m an official, we can’t!”

“Nothing in the rules. I checked.”

“You’re my best friend...” Bones pleaded at him.

“I’ve never done it with a best friend, but I really want to. I don’t want to fuck this up between us either, but God, Bones do you understand how hot you are? How hard you make me?” Jim risked the chance to touch Bones, just gently on his face. He could see the shaking in Bones’ arms as he held himself up.

“It’s just adrenalin from your win,” Bones protested, finding one excuse after another.

“I know what that feels like, to win and be the best in the world, but this,” Jim waved between small space the two of them and shook his head. “Just for once, don’t fucking think.”

Jim surged up to kiss Bones again, deep and dirty. Jim got his arms around Bones’ waist and, using his strength, pulled him up just with his hands gripping on Bones’ ass. The slide up caused Jim’s underwear to pull up and over his cock again, but he didn’t care, he had Bones under his hands and Bones’ cock rubbing back up against him too.

Using his strength again, Jim pulled slowly down, making Bones follow him, until it was Bones using his strength to push Jim into the bed. One of Bones’ hands drifted up to card through Jim’s hair, tugging gently to make Jim arch his head back a little. Jim took that as an invitation to slowly slide his hands up and then down Bones’ back until he was cupping that ass again.

Jim didn’t know why on earth this idea hadn’t come to him sooner. Bones felt so good with his little thrusts and grinds. Jim’s cock was very pleased with the friction and Jim loved the feel of the softness of Bones’ ass under his hands, but there were also some muscles under there which gave his ass its excellent shape,a shape Jim had been admiring. Jim knew his own was pretty great, especially in lycra, but Bones’ was fit too.

Eventually Bones moved away from Jim’s lips, nipping a little path down his neck that had Jim arching his head even more, which in turn meant his hips pushed up higher. Jim had planted his feet on the bed; Bones’ cradled between his thighs.

“You drive me so mad,” Bones growled into Jim’s neck just before he started sucking a little harder.

Jim could feel his skin being pulled from between Bones’ teeth. Bones’ aftershave was stronger now that his exertions had him sweating. Jim had loved the smell of it in Bones’ own bed, but knowing that now Jim’s sheets were going to smell of Bones and him combined, along with another of Bones’ growls in that deep voice of his, was pushing Jim almost to the edge.

His fingers scrambled, almost without thought, up Bones’ back, slipping slightly on his skin before he got his hands on Bones’ head. With a growl, Jim pulled Bones’ head up, breaking the contact with his skin.

“Marking me now?” Jim asked, glaring a little at Bones. There was a small war going on in his mind between adding to the bruises he already had on his face and being mindful of everyone knowing what he had been up to the night before. He was never ashamed of his sexual nature, but sometimes you did have to be, kinda, mindful of the cameras that would be shoved in your direction.

Stronger still was the need, the desire to get at Bones’ boxers, pull them down and feel that cock naked against his own. So instead of allowing Bones to answer the question, Jim tugged so that they were kissing once again, tongues pushing back and forth, little nips with teeth on soft lips, licks and teases. His hands quickly slid out of Bones’ soft hair and down his back, cataloguing the little flinch Bones made involuntarily when they glided over his side, a ticklish spot to explore later, but first, his boxers.

Bones figured out his intentions pretty quickly and started to help and hinder at the same time. Jim found his own sensitive spot just under his ribs touched by Bones, and the shiver it caused down his spine was delicious. Bones’ cool fingers were slipping into Jim’s own underwear, trying to push them down. Jim had to lower his legs, but Bones’ own legs were wriggling about as well, still hindering both of them.

The cool air in the room floated in the small space between them before the heat they were generating once more took over as Jim felt Bones’ naked cock, just the tip of it, touch his own.

“Oh fuck!” Jim cried out as the rubbing got harder and made him come, back arching, hips pushing up at Bones as Jim rode out the intense orgasm.

Bones had dropped his head into the curve of Jim’s shoulder and was rutting away hard, before he too stilled, more come joining Jim’s on the space between them. It was sticky and a little warm, but Jim didn’t want to move, loving the feel of the warm body above him.

He finally felt Bones’ breath slow in time with his own, and then Bones lifted up his head.

“Jim--”

“Shh,” Jim responded, shaking his head a little.

Jim reluctantly let go of Bones and reached over for the tissue box on the side table, pulling a few out and sharing them with Bones. In silence they each cleaned themselves up, though Bones had taken Jim’s unvoiced hint to stay close to him.

Jim collected Bones’ now wadded and sticky tissues and dropped them over the side of the bed to the floor. They could be dealt with in the morning.

“Jim, I should...” Bones looked in the direction of his own bed.

“No,” Jim told him. “Too far away.”

With a little wriggling, Jim managed to move them both and get the quilt out from underneath them.

“Stay?” Jim asked, ever hopeful that Bones was feeling just as sated and lethargic as he was. Bones’ bed seemed like a huge distance away and he wanted to keep Bones with him, uncaring about how small the bed was.

Bones stared at Jim for a while and Jim just lay there, trying to look enticing but trying not push him.

“Okay,” Bones said, barely loud enough for hearing. He moved a little to the side, so Jim scooted to the side, pulling the quilt up and ready to wrap over them both. He offered Bones half of his pillow and his arm to lie upon.

Bones lay on his side, back to Jim, settling in for the night. Jim breathed out a sigh he hadn’t known he had been holding in. He pulled the quilt over, wrapping them both up in the darkness together, arm snaking over Bones’ waist to hold him close. Jim closed his eyes and couldn’t help the smile on his face as he pressed a kiss to the back of Bones’ shoulder as they both settled down to sleep.

oOo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the information on the missing front teeth comment by Jim, see here about one of the prominent age falsification issues in Women's Gymnastics - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Gwang-Suk


	5. Thursday, 2 August 2012

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim's figured it out. Now it's time to help Bones figure things out too.

Jim stretched a little as he started to fully wake up. He stopped when his body met resistance in the form of another warm body in his bed, and he remembered last night. Bones was still in the bed, lying partly face down, with messy hair on his head that was turned on its side. Jim raised up to look at Bones and watch him while he slept. He had seen Bones sleeping before, when Jim had gotten up early for training, but it had just been quick glances then and he hadn’t taken the time to look closely at Bones as he could now. The lines on Bones’ face had evened out a little and made him look younger. Jim didn’t know why, but Bones’ eyelashes were fascinating to him--long, dark and spiky looking as they rested against his cheek.

Jim allowed his eyeline to drift from Bones’ face along his neck, to Bones’ hair which was getting a little long at the back, then down the smooth curve of Bones’ spine to that spectacular ass in his official tighty whiteys, Ralph Lauren, because only the best would do for Team U.S.A. One of them had pushed the quilt down during the night, obviously warm enough from their shared body heat. Jim risked slowly touching Bones’ back with the tip of his finger and then allowed it to glide down Bones’ soft skin, feeling each little bump of his spine before Jim teased, with little circles, at the spot where Bones’ back met his underwear.

Bones groaned a little and pushed up his hips. Jim quickly looked up to see if Bones had woken yet, but he still had his eyes shut. Another little breathy groan from Bones had Jim smiling and allowing his finger to slip under the material and tease at the top of Bones’ ass crack.

He leaned down, pushing Bones’ hair gently away with his nose before blowing softly and then pressing a kiss to the back of Bones’ neck. While he peppered Bones’ neck with soft kisses, savoring the taste, he pushed his finger down further so it was teasing even more around Bones’ hole.

Lube might have made it easier, but Jim couldn’t help himself. Just like last night when he couldn’t wait and Bones had made him come just from rubbing off against him, Jim was feeling even a little harder this morning. It was likely to be his normal morning wood, combined with how horny Bones made him, especially after seeing Bones coming--those lips parted slightly and eyes closed, cheeks flushed with arousal and, god, Bones could growl.

“Ah, fuck!” Jim heard Bones say, as he teased a little closer to the hole, almost allowing the tip of his finger to enter.

“Yes,” Jim replied, his voice just as scratchy and rough. He lowered down to press his body close to Bones’, letting Bones feel just how aroused Jim was by his presence in the bed with him.

Jim’s hand got trapped a little awkwardly as Bones twisted around to partly face him. Bones was awake now and blinking as he tried to clear the sleep from his eyes.

“No,” Bones breathed out, shaking his head slightly as he stared at Jim, his expression seemingly filled with regret.

Jim wasn’t going to have any of that. It had been close to one of the best orgasms Jim had ever had and only from frotting. He wanted to fuck Bones so badly, or even better, let Bones fuck him--hold him down, push hard into him and fuck him deep and dirty. Jim nearly came from the idea alone.

“Don’t you get regrets,” Jim said as he leaned over Bones, inches away from his lips. Jim wanted to say more, something, anything, but for once his glib tongue had deserted him and he just kissed Bones instead, letting his lips do the talking with gentle persuasion, waiting and hoping for Bones to once again commit to whatever this was between them.

For a moment, Bones resisted passively by not partaking in the kiss and Jim was about to pull away but then Bones became a man of action. He twisted back around, pushing Jim almost into the wall and getting real handsy. Jim wrapped his leg over Bones’, pulling him closer and they started to frot against each other again, as they had last night. Jim was now the one groaning from the kiss and Bones’ hands all over his body. He loved to look at the man, but he loved to feel Bones mapping all of him with those long, strong fingers even better.

Bones really had a fixation for his neck, Jim thought as Bones broke away from the kiss and moved that clever tongue and his sharp teeth of his down to once again nibble, suck and kiss at Jim’s neck.

“No marking.” Jim managed to get out the reminder while his own nails were doing a fair job of marking Bones’ back.

Jim found his hands grabbed and pulled away while Bones flashed a look at him and growled out in a warning tone.

With a quick twist Jim had Bones flat on his back, letting Bones keep hold of his wrists while he moved down so that his head was hovering just over Bones’ very interested cock. A look up, a smile, and then Jim quickly licked a path up Bones’ cock, over his underwear. The gasp from Bones had him loosening his hold on Jim’s wrist, so Jim took his chance and got his arms fully released, all the better so he could pull Bones’ underwear down and get his mouth directly on Bones’ cock.

It wasn’t the easiest of positions, with the end of the bed close to Jim’s knees, but Bones was groaning away while Jim was taking his time to learn the taste, smell and feel of Bones’ cock. Jim almost involuntarily deep throated Bones when his hips snapped up suddenly while Jim was slowly taking as much of Bones as he could in his mouth. As Jim gagged a little, Bones started to pull away. Jim wasn’t having that and grabbed hard on Bones’ hips, relaxing as he deep-throated Bones for real. It was a skill that had taken him a while to learn, but he knew once he had mastered it that any guy would be putty in his hands from then on. Bones was no exception.

Bones moved a hand up to card through Jim’s hair, just resting there, while he swore a blue streak, his hips pulsing away as much as Jim was allowing them. Jim could feel the spit running down his chin and dripping onto Bones’ balls and the sheets. He didn’t care, he wanted Bones to come, he wanted to make Bones lose himself again. Bones could try whatever bullshit he was going to come up with to say this was a bad fucking idea, but Jim didn’t care for whatever excuse Bones was going to come up with. Bones might think it was wrong or whatever, but after this he was going to know just how good Jim was at sucking a dick, and every time he would see Jim, he would remember it.

“Jim!” Bones cried out as he came.

Jim pulled off a bit, allowing the come to fill his mouth as he swallowed as much as he could. He loved the feel of Bones’ dick pulsing with those little movements, pushing against his tongue, while under his hands he could feel how Bones was trying to control his writhing and mostly failing.

Jim had almost swallowed it all, enjoying the unique taste, when Bones surprised him. He found himself pulled up, his teeth involuntarily scraping over Bones’ sensitive skin, almost biting at the head of Bones’ cock. He opened his mouth wider, jaw aching slightly, so as not to cause another hiss of pain from Bones. Just like last night, Jim had been slightly surprised with Bones’ strength when he shouldn’t have been. He had seen the man work out before and he did love his running.

Once more, Jim was pushed a little back into the wall and Bones was kissing him, one hand holding Jim’s head in place gently while his other hand was working its way under Jim’s underwear to wrap around his cock. It was Jim’s turn to let out the groans, moans and encouraging babble as Bones jerked him off. It was a little rough and burning with no real lubricant available apart from his own pre-come. Jim wasn’t sure exactly what he had been saying but it must have worked as Bones was kissing him harder, tongue twisting and taking as he pulled Jim closer and tried to work his hand faster and faster. It was hard with how close they were, almost attempting osmosis, but within a few strokes Jim was coming onto their chests and the sheets underneath.

Bones didn’t let up on the kiss as Jim came. He kept pressing, kept enticing Jim to follow him. Jim gladly would have followed him to Hell if he kept on kissing him that way. As Jim had suspected, Bones sure did know how to kiss.

Eventually, Bones slowed the kisses until they were just little nibbles and presses, teases that Jim couldn’t resist chasing slightly as their hands glided just as languidly over each other, learning each other over and over again, and discovering new points of pleasure to be remembered and explored later.

Jim rubbed his palm over Bones’ cheek, feeling the morning stubble coming through. Bones had closed his eyes as he pressed his cheek into Jim’s palm.

“Morning,” Jim said, his voice deep.

Bones’ eyes slowly opened and Jim looked intently at all the different flecks of color that made up Bones’ hazel eyes, trying to remember each and every facet.

As Bones stared at him in return and didn’t reply, Jim felt a little worried about what he was thinking. Even though last night Jim had pushed to take their relationship to a physical level, Bones was right about an athlete and official getting involved. It was something still considered pretty taboo, although there were a surprising number of husband and wives who were coach and athletes.

There was something about them lying face to face on the small bed that had Jim holding his tongue and just enjoying the moment. They were a little messy, but Jim didn’t want to let him out of the bed yet. Jim moved his arms around Bones and pulled him close again. Bones let out a little grunt, but adjusted so that he was lying tangled up with Jim in a slightly comfortable way. With a wriggle or two they settled back into a position they were both happy with, Bones’ head tucked into Jim’s neck, Jim shivering to feel Bones’ breath ghosting across his skin. Jim’s eyes closed, unable to keep open for much longer and he could feel Bones’ breathing almost in sync with his as they both drifted back into sleep.

oOo

When Jim woke again, he was alone in his bed but he could hear the shower going just across the corridor. He needed to go to the toilet and while he and Bones hadn’t bothered so much with the niceties and had walked in on each other in their shared bathroom back at the Academy, it just seemed a bit different to Jim at that moment. He lay there thinking about the changes that he had instigated. He had thought about it in the abstract but now, right then, it was very real.

He scratched himself, noting the few flakes that had attached to his stomach. With a few scratches they were off, dropping back down onto his stomach but no longer sticking to his skin. The pressure in his dick was getting stronger and he couldn’t wait any longer.

The shower was still going strongly as Jim walked across to the bathroom, naked.

“Hey, need to pee,” Jim said as he walked in and headed straight for the toilet, avoiding looking at Bones in the shower, even though he really wanted to.

There was something about getting physical with someone that made you just want to explore and see their physical form even more. Jim had had his share of one-night stands and brief flings. Even in those, Jim needed and wanted to explore as much of his partner as possible.

The toilet seat was up as Bones had probably used it. Jim stood there for a bit, dick in hand, and it seemed it had decided to be shy for the first time in his life. The sound of running water from the shower was luckily enough inducement and relief came. He had started reaching forward to flush the toilet before he remembered and stopped himself.

“Jim!” Bones called out in warning, obviously thinking Jim was going to flush the toilet.

Jim stood nonplussed for a moment, also thinking about how to wash his hands without turning on the tap as Bones’ voice registered with him.

Jim looked over his shoulder, knowing he had a smirk on his face as he teased Bones.

“Can’t get enough of my ass, you have to watch me?”

Bones couldn’t resist a little quirk of disapproval before he turned back around and gave Jim the view of his own back and ass, pointedly ignoring Jim.

The water cascading down on Bones gave Jim a solution to his need to wash his hands. He put some soap on one palm before stepping over to the shower space and opened up the door. He grinned unrepentantly as he soaped up his hands and washed them off, and if he ‘accidentally’ brushed up against Bones while doing it, well, he wasn’t complaining. He was gifted with another of Bones’ looks that he was very familiar with. The man could speak disapproval without saying a word in almost more languages than Uhura knew. The calculation in Jim’s mind must have shown on his face as Bones turned off the shower and grabbed his towel before starting to dry himself.

When Jim reached forward, making an attempt to grab at the towel, he was shoved by Bones, who showed that quick strength he had. Jim took the couple of steps back and pouted at Bones, stopping his plan to get his hands on the man once more.

Jim leaned back against the counter and just watched Bones trying to dry himself thoroughly. Occasionally he would catch Bones looking at him. Jim just kept admiring all of the man that he could. His dick was showing a bit of interest in Bones’ body as well, and caused Jim to waggle his eyebrows at Bones.

Bones snorted before speaking, “Get in the shower, Jim.”

As Bones walked out of the bathroom, he closed the door. Jim took the not so subtle hint that Bones wasn’t ready for another round, and got in the shower as he had been ordered.

oOo

Jim found himself sitting alone and eating a meal, a later breakfast than intended, but the morning and the sleep-in had been more than welcome. His later start time meant it had been easier to snag an outside table. There had been a small amount of drizzle falling the past few days, but overall it had been much better than expected. Jim had always liked to be able to look up at the sky.

Being outside meant he was able to catch Gaila walking back to their apartment block, dressed in civvies.

“What time do you call this, young lady?” Jim called out, teasingly. “We have a curfew you know.”

Gaila startled a little at the sound of his voice and then smiled when she saw him. Her steps in his direction could only be called ‘jaunty’. Jim thought from her walk that she had enjoyed herself last night, and now it was confirmed when he saw the look on her face as well.

“Good night?” Jim asked as she seated herself at the table with him. He was gifted with a slow smile in response, which was nothing like her usual talkative nature.

“That’s all I’m getting? Seriously?” Jim asked with a grin on his face. “Must have been one hell of a dinner.”

“Exceptional,” Gaila replied, leaning back and smiling up at the sky, eyes closed.

“That’s all I’m gonna get?” Jim repeated, a little perturbed by Gaila being circumspect in her reply. They were normally pretty open with each other and Jim loved that about her. There was no pretense with Gaila, she had an almost childlike joy in everything, and a serious case of the overshares. “Seriously, cat got your tongue?”

Gaila was now smiling at Jim, looking at him closely, and he wondered if what he had been up to was obvious.

“I’m not the only one who has been at the cream.” Gaila smirked at Jim, giving him the answer he had been after.

Jim took the time to admire to Gaila before responding to her unspoken query. She was sitting a little forward, elbow on the table and hand gently resting on her chin. Her curly red hair was loose in all its riotous glory and those eyes of hers were sparkling with a twinkle of devilry that almost matched his.

“Must have been some pretty good cream. I might need the name of this restaurant. You know I can’t resist a good meal,” Jim said.

“This cream is all mine, and wouldn’t be to your liking,” Gaila replied.

Jim gave her a disbelieving look as he leaned back in his chair.

Gaila laughed as she got up and walked behind him, draping her arms over his shoulders and leaning in to whisper to him.

“If you want Leonard to look this satisfied, ask Montgomery.”

At the reveal of the name, Jim looked up at Gaila in shock , who smirked at him once more before walking away, back on the path she had originally intended to take.

“There’s a thing at the Embassy tonight for the team, you’d better get your beauty rest,” Jim yelled after her.

Gaila waved a hand in the air to let him know she had heard, and continued on her way, leaving him to stare down at his eggs which were now cold.

oOo

Jim leaned against the side pole, watching Scotty adjust the wires. He looked over to the other side of the training hall where Bones was talking with Pavel. Not once in this whole session had Bones talked to him. He had gone back to his avoidance tactics again, even after that morning when he had embraced their ability to have fantastic sex together, despite having shown initial reservations about the change in the physical aspect of their relationship. Jim had thought Bones’ reaction was enough to prove that he was willing to explore it more, though it now seemed Bones was going in the completely opposite direction. Jim knew Bones was a private guy and he respected that, but he had strong feelings for the man and he wanted to express them, or at least get something more than a mixed message, as he was now.

A flick of the wire from Scotty twisting the pin put a small movement in the pole and caused Jim to look in Scotty’s direction. He had initially been shocked to learn that Gaila had spent most of the night with Scotty, until curfew called. Then she just had to go visit him again this morning, so she could to finish off the rest of the evening. She had explained it all to Jim in almost gleeful delight when Jim had followed her back to the apartment block.

Jim had eventually gotten the whole story out of her, as she never had been able to keep secrets for too long. He thought back to their little jaunt through the streets of London a few nights ago. There had been some strong flirting going on between them, so Gaila and Scotty pairing up shouldn’t have been such a surprise to him. Also, Gaila was all for calling him Montgomery at the time, which should have been a major clue for Jim.

“What was the restaurant you took Gaila to last night?” Jim asked.

Scotty looked up at him in surprise.

“More power to you, man. That had to be one hell of a place to put that smile on Gaila’s face this morning.”

“Ah, laddie, the restaurant was but an entrée,” Scotty replied.

“Got to get a meal off to a good start, otherwise things can go downhill very quickly,” Jim replied.

Scotty just laughed at him.

“Look, I need some help. I need to get a meal off to a good start. I have a very fussy eater I want to impress.”

“He’s a mite more than fussy, I would say laddie. I would hazard to guess he is downright reluctant,” Scotty said as he looked over in the direction of Bones before glancing back at Jim.

“Not as reluctant as he is pretending now. And seriously, is there anyone that doesn’t know?” Jim asked.

“Gaila told me,” Scotty replied.

“Great!” Jim said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

“ _Le Gavroche_ ,” Scotty said.

“What?” Jim was shocked by Scotty sprouting French all of a sudden.

“The restaurant. Its name is _Le Gavroche_. Hard to get into and especially now, but if you want to butter him up, that’s the place to start. And I may be able to help you with that, the reservation that is.”

“Mr. Scott, has the adjustment been made?” Spock’s voice cut across their conversation.

“All right and tight, Mr. Spock, as ye asked,” Scotty replied as he tossed the wrench in the air, re-catching it after a full rotation.

Scotty walked past Jim as Spock started to tell him what he needed to work on again.

“Thanks, man,” Jim said quietly to Scotty, before giving his full attention to Spock and his preparation for apparatus finals.

oOo

There was something old school about Bones that Jim couldn’t quite put his finger on. Sure, Bones loved to do his hair a particular way that hadn’t been seen since the last century, quite far back in the last century Jim mused.

It was more than that, Jim knew. People just looked at the surface of Bones. While not ignoring his old style Southern manners which just were such a part of him, it was something more than this that Jim hadn’t quite put his finger on. Jim had overheard others on the team discussing Bones when they didn’t think Jim was around. They all focused on the physical and Jim took his chance to do admire Bones unobserved.

Ralph Lauren suited Bones, something about that classic style of dress seemed to be a perfect fit for him. Jim admired the crisp white pants and polo shirt tucked in perfectly, belt not too tight and adding just a splash of color. At least Bones had a decent tan, which made the white look great on him. Bones had forgone the cap, which Jim was sporting on his head. When they first got their uniforms, Jim had laughed to hear the grumbles from Bones, especially about the cap. Bones looked like he had stepped off the screen from the set of _The Great Gatsby_ , no matter what his protests said otherwise.

Jim took another sip of his juice, enjoying a quiet moment by the pillar to watch Bones talking with Uhura, smiling and flirting gently with her. It had always rankled a little how Bones could flirt with Uhura and she would flirt back. Yet, when Jim tried anything with her, he got a spectacular cold shoulder or, even worse, one of her clever replies that would have stopped a lesser man from trying again. Jim had never been a lesser man.

He had endured many a slap on the shoulder and a lot of glad handing this evening, from all kinds of people that Jim had never even heard of before and likely were never to hear from again. It would give them something to tell their friends and families though, the moment they spent chatting with an Olympic Gold medalist. It still seemed a little surreal to Jim that he had two of them and with five more competitions to go for him, maybe some more in the offering.

As he saw one of the ambassador’s flunkies heading in his direction--a woman who had a little earlier promised a lot with a look and then even more with her words, he looked for a means to escape. Jim noted the woman had a glass of champagne in her hand and every so often, the incredibly high heels she was wearing caused her to stumble with a few slightly unsteady steps. It was obvious a combination of being tipsy and being essentially up on stilts that caused her lack of balance. Jim decided to risk an Uhura dressing down and head over to the safety of her and Bones instead of having to refuse a blatant invitation directly.

Gaila came to his rescue however, pulling Uhura away from Bones and leaving Bones alone and looking down at his now empty glass.

“Get you another one?” Jim asked as he walked up to him.

Bones looked a little startled, but he soon recovered. “No, I’m fine.”

“That you are indeed. You never gave me a chance to show my appreciation for how well you fill out that uniform,” Jim said, looking Bones up and down.

“Jim!” Bones hissed, looking around quickly.

“Fuck’s sake, Bones. If you want to draw more attention to us, try ignoring me some more. We’re friends, remember. We’ve lived in each other’s pockets for the past three years, choose to spend our spare time together and now you are playing ignore the Jim,” Jim said as he stood right up in Bones’ personal space, daring him to back off or stay there and take it like a man.

Bones stood his ground as Jim thought he would. He could never resist a challenge, a fact Jim had taken advantage of quite often in their three years of friendship.

“I so want to take you out of that, especially those pants. They grip your ass so nicely. And don’t give me any avoidance any more. You loved it this morning, especially with your dick in my mouth. Fuck, I loved it!”

Bones shook his head a little, still checking to see if anyone else was listening in.

“I’m being quiet, but I’ve had enough of you ignoring me for the day. Tomorrow night, you and I are going out to dinner. I know you like good food and since I have a table at _Le Gavroche_ , you won’t be able to resist.”

“Jim, I—“ Bones started to say.

“Please, Bones,” Jim said, putting on his best puppy dog eyes, knowing that look had always guaranteed a laugh from Bones.

Sure enough, he was right and Bones laughed.

“You idiot.”

Jim just grinned. “There’s my Bones! So how much longer do we have to hang around here?”

“Thought you would like all this adulation,” Bones said, lifting his glass up before he remembered it was empty. Bones scowled at the glass as if it had mortally offended him, making Jim laugh. That was his friend, his Bones.

“Name me one of the people here, not on our team, that know the difference between a ‘sault and a roll? They just want an anecdote and don’t really care.“

“True,” Bones agreed, shrugging his shoulders as he glanced around at the well-dressed crowd.

“So, your bed or mine tonight?” Jim asked.

“Jim!” Bones protested again.

“C’mon, man. Admit it, you like calling out my name. I should have figured out you would be putty in my hands with all the calling of my name over the years.”

Bones gave him a look before speaking again. “You need Chapel to see to your back again. You need a good night’s sleep, plus I have a meeting with Pike and Spock after this. Don’t wait up for me, we have a nine o’clock training session which means early to bed and early to rise for you. It will be Pike having my ass if you are in less than perfect condition.”

Jim pouted at Bones, a little frustrated at being denied, but still trying to keep on the good side of Bones.

“Don’t give me that. I’m immune,” Bones replied. “I’ve got a time for you to see Chapel before training. She’s sent a message to your email about it, so a _very_ early to rise for you.”

“Can’t I have your magic fingers instead?” Jim asked, leaning in close and risking a flicker of a touch on Bones’ hip with his hand.

Bones swayed just a little bit toward him and a flash of heat came in his eyes. Jim smiled as he realized that no matter what protestations Bones came up with while attempting to resist Jim, Bones still wanted him.

“No, Jim. Maybe later. Once this is all over,” Bones said, grabbing Jim’s wrist and pulling it away gently. “Now stop it.”

“I want—“

“Too bad, sometimes you don’t get to win every time.”

Bones had on his determined look and while Jim thought he might be able to eventually wear him down, Bones was right. There was still a ways to go in the competition.

“Fine, but I will hold you to that later, and we are going out to dinner tomorrow night, even if I have to get Pike and Spock to order you to go,” Jim said, pulling his hand out of Bones’ gentle grip.

Jim smiled as he stepped back and looked over to see Pike and Spock off to the side, talking to the Ambassador. With a wicked smile, Jim looked at Bones and then headed over to Pike and Spock.

“Jim!” Bones called out after him.

oOo


	6. Friday, 3 August 2012 & Wednesday, 8 August 2012

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An interesting training session, a night out and a night in. Sometimes things do fall into place just how you want them.

Jim tried to stifle his yawn, but he wasn’t successful. At the raised eyebrow from Spock, Jim just smiled before he started on his repetitions, working on the strength needed to do a top class rings routine. The rings were set up in a corner of the gym, near a small room that was Scotty’s domain. Jim knew that Scotty had been closeted in there for a while with Archer, who hadn’t look pleased when he called Scotty to follow him. To make matters even more distracting to Jim, Nero had turned up and was currently over on the other side of the gym, though he kept looking at the U.S. Team area when he was speaking with Ayel, his main assistant coach. Their discussion was fairly animated, it appeared that Ayel was attempting to placate Nero about something.

Bones and Spock had spotted him as well and had done their utmost to ensure that Pike didn’t see Nero.

“Mr. Kirk, concentration please,” Pike ordered, causing Jim to wobble and fall sideways.

“Again. Remembering you have a core would be good,” Pike ordered before he turned back to watch Cupcake who was on the rings.

Jim had done his run-throughs on the rings before but Pike and Spock weren’t happy with his work. Bones had been right, his back was causing him a few little twinges that meant he had to make adjustments to his normal flow. Chapel had worked him over good that morning, and he was now really feeling the after effects of the massage. He finished the last set of reps and grabbed his bottle, making sure to get as much fluids in as possible.

Pavel had called Bones over to discuss something with him and Spock was working over a move with Cupcake, which meant they were both distracted and hadn’t noticed that Nero was heading in Pike’s direction.

“How nice to see you up and about, Christopher. Your illness was obviously not as debilitating as it appeared,” Nero said.

Pike turned slowly, keeping his face blank. Jim walked over to stand at Pike’s back, watching Nero. Jim soon found himself joined by Spock as well, flanking Pike on the other side.

“I have excellent medical care,” Pike replied.

“It might be called miraculous, wouldn’t you say Spock?” Nero asked, looking pointedly at Spock.

“Dr. McCoy is an excellent physician and we take the health and well being of all our team as the most important consideration,” Spock replied.

“Risks were never a strong point with your father or you. I was amazed that you allowed Kirk to perform the _Kobayashi Maru_ , considering it killed his father. Or was that the influence of your doctor? Such measures they had to take in your absence, Christopher.” Nero directed his attention to Jim and Pike again. “Such inexperience.”

Jim just barely held himself back from punching the guy out for mentioning his dad. He would have probably launched at the guy if he hadn’t felt the calming touch of Bones’ hand on the small of his back.

“They seemed to do just fine,” Pike replied.

Jim looked over at Spock to see if there was any reaction there, but like it so often was, Spock’s face was a blank slate. What Jim did see was Cupcake looking confused at what was going on and Pavel looking concerned. Even better though, was when Jim saw that Scotty and Archer were standing just inside Scotty’s room, listening in on the encounter. If they could get Nero to reveal something with Archer there, it would seal his fate. Nero did have a temper, and Spock pushed it just by being present, Jim had observed.

“I would say more than fine, seeing as we won and everything. Spock wouldn’t you agree we did more than fine?” Jim asked, hoping Spock would take the bait and help provoke Nero.

“It was acceptable, but we do have high standards in the United States,” Spock said.

“Yeah, some of those former Eastern Bloc countries…” Jim shook his head and hoped that Pavel would keep his mouth shut.

Thankfully Pavel did, but there was a flash of anger in Nero’s eyes. Jim had seen him lay into one of his gymnasts for a really minor issue, so Jim tried for another push. “Next time, you might have to kidnap the whole team for your plan to work. Instead you gave Spock all the glory.”

Nero stepped forward, temper lost. He almost literally hissed out his next words. “You ruined it all. You with the vault that should have killed you just like it did your father.”

“Well, it didn’t, and we are all standing here. Plus your guys were so incompetent they didn’t really hurt Captain Pike either. Big fail from start to finish. Maybe next time don’t rely on family to do your dirty work.”

“Do not insult my family. You are not worth a tenth of any of them.”

Nero had stepped forward and Jim held his ground as he saw Nero clench his fist. He didn’t need to counter a strike as even before Nero could get a good swing, Pike had grabbed his arm. Jim heard the low growl from Bones and could feel him move even closer to Jim.

“Don’t even think about touching one of my gymnasts or I will put you on your ass so fast you won’t have time to fiddle,” Pike said, glaring at Nero.

“You dare to touch me? I should not have told them to be careful with you. You Americans think you can get away with anything. You steal our best and claim the glory all to yourself,” Nero was almost spitting out each word now as his focus was purely on Pike.

“What would be less than gentle from what I received?” Pike asked, eyes narrowing.

“You would not be walking now, or maybe even breathing,” Nero said as he shrugged. “My word is law, and they obey.”

“Have you heard enough, Jonathan?” Pike asked.

Jim tried not to smile as Nero turned in surprise to see Jonathan Archer walking in their direction.

“More than enough, although you should have let him attempt to strike Mr. Kirk, as that would have caused his accreditation to be revoked immediately. No offence, Mr. Kirk,” Archer said.

“None taken. Already got one shiner, a matching set would’ve been fine,” Jim replied.

“Jim!” Bones protested.

“Your pass, if you please, Nero,” Archer said as he held out his hand.

“You are American like them,” Nero said crossing his arms over his chest and refusing to comply with Archer’s request.

“At this moment I am the competition director. Mr. Scott is the Equipment Manager and there are a number of volunteers that have also witness this altercation. Your pass, and do not make me ask again.” Archer was still holding his hand out, but made a motion for Nero to put his pass in it. “Mr. Scott, can you please notify security to escort Mr. Nero from the building and I do believe this trip will end out of the country.”

“Keenser has called them. There they are now,” Scotty replied and pointed at the far door, where two security guards were entering the gym.

Their appearance had halted Nero, who had turned as if to make a run for it.

“I think Scotland Yard, might want to have a wee chat with Mr. Nero first,” Scotty said with a smug look on his face.

“I think we can arrange that,” Archer replied.

Jim knew that his smile was a full-blown smirk as he considered the ramifications for Nero. Not only would he have the shame of being kicked out of an Olympics, his loose tongue should ensure that he would be facing a charge for Pike’s kidnapping. As Archer and Scotty moved to block Nero from running away, Pike clapped his hands making the rest of the team wander back to where they had been working before Nero turned up. Jim turned around and while Bones wasn’t smiling himself, there was a look of determined satisfaction on his face.

oOo

“This is a stupid idea,” Bones said as they walked from the Marble Arch tube station along the side of Hyde Park.

There was music going on in the park, but Jim could only see the side of some screens above the fence and people walking everywhere. It looked to be a very busy Friday night in London.

“Having a dinner out and not at the Athlete’s Dining room is a stupid idea? Tell me something, Bones, who’s spent most of the past week complaining about the placement of a McDonalds in the village?” Jim asked as he turned around and started walking backwards, watching Bones as he did so.

The view was nice. Bones was in navy pants and a matching colored shirt, tucked in with a button loose at the top, giving just a little hint of the skin lying underneath the material. In his hands was a jacket, as Jim had been warned there was a dress code for _Le Gavroche_.

“Where are we going anyway?” Bones asked as he looked around the street.

Jim turned around, narrowly missing another couple walking the other way. He moved to the side to avoid the collision and stopped when he saw the cars through the window. The Union Jack was everywhere and when he looked carefully, it was obvious why it was so prominent in this window--an Aston Martin dealership. In the main position was a classic car, a gleaming red that had Jim feeling a little twinge of guilt at the loss of his Dad’s own classic car.

“Down this way,” Jim said as he walked away from the window and around the corner onto Upper Brooks St.

The crowd was a little thinner on this street, so Jim picked up his pace, after glancing at his watch. They were almost late for their reservation and Scotty had warned him to not be late, especially on a Friday night. He had to work hard to get the reservation in the first place, being a gold medalist really came in handy in keeping the restaurant on the line to talk to him. Plus Scotty knew the General Manager, so he had gotten on the phone too, to confirm that Jim was who he said he was. No two months wait in advance reservation for him, and Bones would hopefully appreciate the effort Jim had gone to.

Jim pulled out his phone to check Google maps, wanting to know where they were in comparison to the restaurant. They were on the wrong side of the road, so Jim looked quickly left and right, realizing that it was a one way street. When the next car passed, Jim jogged across the road, knowing that Bones would follow, but he still looked back to check. Bones was being silent, which had Jim a little worried, but he was still following. The modern business architecture which was flanking Hyde Park had given way to older style buildings, most of them appearing to actually be joined houses. Jim nearly passed the entrance as he looked toward the lights up ahead, but the New York style awning was a bit of a giveaway.

“After you,” Jim offered as he indicated the door ahead.

It was remarkably unprepossessing, with the name of the restaurant painted on the glass above. As Bones pushed the door open, Jim got his first look at one of London’s top eateries. It was a surprise to him, as he pulled his jacket on, remembering Scotty’s advice. It was very beige and cream and quite dated. Jim admired the grace Bones was displaying as he pulled on his own jacket. A staff member walked around the corner interrupting Jim’s perusal of Bones.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” he said. “Welcome to _Le Gavroche_.”

“Hi, Jim Kirk. I have a reservation,” Jim said.  
They waited patiently while the reservation was checked.

“Indeed, sir. May I pass on my congratulations on your successful games so far. If you would be pleased to follow me,” the waiter said as he indicated down the small corridor.

Off to their left was some glass doors where a very red and tartan room could be seen that had some comfy looking chairs and was fairly full of people with drinks in hand. As they walked down the corridor, Jim could see a dining room off to the right, the restaurant appeared to be packed and quite noisy to go along with all the people in such small spaces. The waiter walked down some stairs and Jim followed. At the base of the little stairway was another dining room, mostly in green. The waiter led them to the far side of the room and a little couch that wrapped around a table.

“Your table,” the waiter indicated with an arm.

“Bones.” Jim offered the choice of place for Bones to sit first.

Jim watched as Bones sat down and then he slipped into the other side, moving just a bit so that he was as close to Bones as he could get without touching him. Jim smiled as Bones looked down at their close proximity and then raised an eyebrow at Jim. Their little silent communication was broken by the menus being held out toward them.

“Can we start you on some drinks?” the waiter asked.

Jim opened his mouth to speak but Bones beat him to it.

“Just some water. Mr. Kirk has a competition still to go,” Bones pointed out.

Jim resisted poking his tongue out.

“Very good. Still or sparkling?”

“Still,” Jim said, not letting Bones have all his own way.

The waiter nodded and then disappeared, leaving them to look over their menus. Jim discarded the idea of the degustation. Eight choices for main would be too heavy when he had to compete tomorrow, as Bones had just needlessly reminded him.

“Jim,” Bones said quietly, sounding a little unsure.

“Hmm?” Jim replied.

“Does yours have prices?”

Jim looked at his menu and the prices off to the side on the menu and then looked over at Bones’ which had been angled so Jim could see it. Sure enough there were no prices on Bones’ menu.

“Mine has prices.”

“God dammit!” Bones swore. “I’ve got the ‘ladies’ menu.”

Jim tried not to laugh at Bones’ disgust; he failed in that endeavor.

“You _are_ my date...” Jim pointed out. “Just order what you want. Don’t worry about it.” Jim patted Bones on the leg in a consoling motion.

Jim chuckled at the look Bones gave him before Bones went back to perusing the menu. Jim had seen something that caught his eye on the menu and as Bones hadn’t pushed his hand off his leg, Jim left it there as he put the menu down.

Bones was still looking over the menu, when two waiters returned to their table. One had the water they had ordered and the other some bread, which was placed down on the table.

“Are you ready to order, gentlemen?”

“I’m good, what about you, Bones? Made a decision?” Jim looked at Bones.

“I’m ready,” Bones said as he nodded.

“Excellent,” the waiter said as he looked first at Jim.

“I’ll have the _Filet de Boeuf Grillé et Purée d'Epinards Poêlée de Champignons_ ,” Jim said.

“An excellent choice sir, and how would you like your _Boeuf_?”

“Medium rare.”

“And for you, sir?” The waiter had turned to Bones.

“Grilled scallops with clam minestrone,” Bones said, snapping his menu closed and offering it to the waiter.

Jim offered his to be collected as well, as the waiter spoke to them once more.

“Would you like a recommendation for an accompanying wine to your meals?”

“As I said, Jim’s on water for this evening, but I’ll have a glass with my meal, whatever is recommended.”

“Spoiling my fun,” Jim said as he leaned in close to speak quietly to Bones.

“If I was spoiling ya fun, your hand wouldn’t still be on my leg,” Bones pointed out just as quietly.

Jim smiled wickedly as he slowly moved his hand higher until Bones slapped his own hand over the top, stopping Jim from moving it further.

“As I said. Spoilsport,” Jim pointed out, noticing that the waiter had moved away at some stage.

“Jim,” Bones warned, glancing around.

“Oh stop it. Nobody can see, and don’t tell me you don’t like my hands on you!”

“That’s besides the point. We’re in a goddamn restaurant with prices you probably can’t afford, and everyone keeps looking over at you.”

“Don’t think they are just looking at me. You’re a good looking guy too, especially when you give me looks like that,” Jim said as he licked his bottom lip. It was feeling really dry and Bones’ slightly heavy lidded look was making Jim want to lean forward and kiss him.

“Jim.” Bones was still trying to warn him off and, really, after three years of friendship, Bones was deluded if he thought that just saying Jim’s name in that tone was going to stop him.

“You keep that up, I will walk outta here.”

Okay, that would stop Jim, but Jim knew he was still going to try a possible compromise.

“What if I don’t go any higher than here?” Jim offered as his fingers reached just below Bones’ groin. “I solemnly swear--”

“To do no good? That’s your motto in life. Tell me something I don’t know,” Bones interrupted.

“No. I solemnly swear that while we are having this meal, I will not touch you higher than here. Once it’s over is a whole another matter though,” Jim promised as he drew little circles with the tips of his fingers.

Bones was still just staring at Jim, the look close to the one Jim had seen before Bones had kissed him. Jim swayed slightly forward, still wanting desperately to kiss Bones. It had been too long for his liking, not since yesterday morning.

“Going to break your promise already?” Bones whispered.

“If you let me,” Jim countered. “You know it’ll be good.”

“No,” Bones said, breaking the spell that had wound around the pair of them, blocking out the rest of the diners in the room. He leaned over and picked up his glass of water. Jim watched as Bones took a sip, looking out at the rest of the room and ignoring Jim.

Jim smiled. The challenge had been laid out.

oOo

As they travelled back to the village on the Tube, Jim silently congratulated himself on his circumspect behavior at the restaurant. Unlike their trip over, they found two seats together, but just like their trip over, they both had taken their jackets off. The Tube was still much warmer compared to the cool evening air outside. Over the course of the meal, which had been delicious and weirdly satisfying, despite the small portions provided, Jim had alternated between slowly seducing Bones with his hands and then backing off and just chatting like the friends they were. He knew that had been throwing Bones for a loop. Even when the chef himself came out to talk to them, an honor he bestowed for every diner, Bones had still been half-watching Jim.

Jim had been closely watching Bones’ reactions in return, and he knew that Bones was aroused. Especially with Bones’ flushed cheeks, which Jim knew was not from the single glass of white wine that he’d had to accompany his seafood. When Bones excused himself to go the toilet, it took all of Jim’s willpower to not follow him. The news was likely to break tomorrow, or even as early as tonight, that the Romanian head coach had been arrested and adding to the speculation by being caught in _Le Gavroche’s_ toilet kissing the team doctor wouldn’t put him in Pike’s good books. Besides, this was supposed to be Jim showing Bones he could take him on a date, and he knew that he was going to kiss Bones goodnight anyway. He was definitely going to walk him home.

Instead of talking about what was going on between them, they debated on the trip home who had the better tasting meal. Bones always voted on the side of seafood over beef. Jim argued that Bones was swayed by the wine, whereas Jim had just the meal to compliment itself. The argument became circular in nature, with neither giving way, until Jim mentioned the earlier walk back to the Tube from the restaurant and tried to entice Bones into Hyde Park to enjoy some time with the masses that were celebrating there. That set Bones off about Jim’s reckless nature which he still hadn’t, apparently, tempered. Jim steered him off the Tube and into the village as Bones continued listing every example he could remember of Jim’s past indiscretions. Jim waved at the security guys as they passed them, letting Bones continue on with his rant as they headed toward their apartment block.

“That’s an awesome memory you have of me, Bones. Anyone would think that maybe you are obsessed,” Jim pointed out as he opened the door to their room, and indicating for Bones to enter first.

Bones stood, a little nonplussed, blinking at Jim before he opened his mouth and nothing came out, so he poked a finger at Jim instead. Jim just smiled at him and waited for Bones to walk into their room. As soon as Bones crossed over that threshold, Jim was going to take charge.

“Get in the room, Bones. Don’t make me stand here and hold the door open all night,” Jim said.

That galvanized Bones, who stalked into their apartment with a little huff. Jim chuckled at Bones’ put upon body language.

As Bones dropped his jacket on the chair, Jim took his opportunity, dropping his own jacket quickly and grabbing Bones, spinning him around and kissing him before he could register a protest. Bones groaned and grabbed back at Jim, pulling him close, all the build up and tension from the dinner now being expressed physically. With a little coaxing, Jim had Bones opening up to him and he got to, once more, taste the delight that was Bones. The taste of the wine was faint in Bones’ mouth, but Jim chased after it with his tongue as his hands slid down Bones’ back to start to pull his shirt out of his pants, seeking warm flesh to touch.

Jim gasped as Bones pushed him back into the wall, breaking their contact.

“Jim,” Bones breathed out, looking a little regretful.

“Fuck no,” Jim swore. “I know you want me, so what’s the problem now?” Jim was looking pointedly down at Bones’ pants and the impressive tenting happening.

“You are still an athlete...”

“Back on that again are we? I thought we had that sorted out,” Jim said in return, glaring at Bones.

“Jim, this is just really fast.”

That bit Jim conceded to himself was true.

“I behaved myself at dinner, and god knows I wanted to follow you into the bathroom, especially when you looked back at me. I didn’t. So, don’t I get a reward now?” Jim asked, knowing that his voice was a little plaintive and hating it. He had never wanted someone to want him as much as he did in that moment.

“I just... you know I’m not one to publicize things,” Bones pointed out.

“Yeah, I know,” Jim said. It was one of the many things that Jim liked about Bones. He would speak if he really felt passionately about something, and most of his ranting was just his way of protecting himself from trying not to really reveal what he was thinking. Jim knew how to listen to Bones.

“We’re not out in public here,” Jim pointed out.

“No, we ain’t,” Bones said, looking down at Jim, his stare stopping around Jim’s groin.

Jim grinned and slowly slid his hands down, testing a theory. Ever so slowly he cupped himself, remembering their first encounter and how Bones had watched intently, almost as if he couldn’t help himself, as Jim had rubbed his erection.

“I was good in public. I listened when you didn’t want to go into the Park with everyone else. I didn’t kiss you in the restaurant, when you were silently begging for me to do so,” Jim pointed out as he slowly rubbed himself up and down, breath catching a little as he did so. “I know you are hesitant, and yet, god, you are one sexy guy. Help me out here!”

Jim had started to undo his belt, desperate to get his hands on himself, his dick was demanding attention and if Bones wasn’t going to give it to him, he needed to get something, anything, now.

Bones moved fast, pushing Jim’s hands out of the way as he got his hands around Jim’s dick.

“Fuck! Bones!” Jim managed to get out as his head thumped back into the wall, eyes closed as he enjoyed the feel of Bones working him up and down.

“Like that?” Bones asked, his voice deeper than normal.

The growl in his voice had Jim hotter than he had felt in a while.

“Keep that up and you will find out exactly how much. Would prefer to feel you fucking me instead,” Jim offered.

Bones growled and started kissing at Jim’s neck again.

“Fucking vampire,” Jim got out as he tilted his head to the side to allow Bones better access.

Bones nipped at his skin, pulling it a little before releasing it and licking a path up to Jim’s mouth. They kissed again, fast, open mouth kisses as Jim got his hands in Bones’ hair, pulling him this way and that, all the better to show him exactly how much he liked Bones’ hands on him and what he was doing with his tongue and lips.

While Bones was distracted with the kissing and the hand job he was giving, Jim took the opportunity to work his shoes off, and then with a few judicious wriggles and twists in certain ways, he worked his pants and socks off as well. As Bones leaned back a little, once he had noticed Jim’s disrobing, Jim wrapped his arms around Bones’ shoulders and, using the wall as leverage, wrapped his legs around Bones’ waist, pushing his ass down a little to rub at Bones’ thick dick, which was still tenting his pants.

“Fuck me, Bones. Now!” Jim demanded.

“Oh god,” Bones cried out as Jim twisted a little and kept rubbing up and down on him, bare skin over clothes.

With desperation, Jim worked one hand down awkwardly to try and get at Bones’ dick. He was so impatient that in the end he just he pulled down the zipper on Bones’ pants and managed to get Bones’ dick out in the gap created.

“Jim!” Bones cried out as Jim rubbed him, still hanging onto Bones with one arm and using the wall as a support for his body.

“Fuck, I love your dick,” Jim mouthed into Bones’ mouth as he pressed another kiss, mostly tongue.

Bones’ fingers were gripping Jim’s ass so hard, that Jim knew he was going to bruise. Bones couldn’t keep them still though and Bones kept gripping and re-gripping, slowly pulling Jim’s cheeks apart so his dick could tease and rub Jim’s balls and just under his hole, the ultimate tease.

“Lube, need lube,” Bones managed to get out.

“Fuck it, want you now!” Jim ordered. “Make me burn!”

“No,” Bones ordered as he stepped back, causing Jim to almost sprawl on the ground.

Jim didn’t have time to complain as Bones grabbed his hand and pulled him across the room. Bones’ destination was the bathroom, where he finally let go of Jim’s hand to fish into his toiletry bag. Jim saw how Bones’ hands were shaking, so he decided to see if he could make them even shakier. If Jim was pantless, Bones deserved to be in the same boat, although Jim did love the look of Bones’ dick just sticking out from his pants. With Bones as elegantly dressed as always, there was just something so debauched about the look.

Jim dropped to his knees next to Bones and quickly undid his belt. As he undid the button, he licked Bones’ dick from base to tip. He heard Bones slap the counter as he groaned. Jim smiled as a thought occurred to him.

“Horatio,” he said as he looked up at Bones.

“What?” Bones asked in confusion as he stared back at Jim.

“Your dick. I said I was going to name it and Horatio it is,” Jim announced, smiling at Bones’ confusion.

“I don’t get the way your mind works, and way to kill a mood, Jim,” Bones growled.

Jim just smiled and went for the kill.

“Tiberius,” Jim said, pointing at his own dick and then looked up at Bones. “Horatio. A horn I totally want to blow,” he announced and before Bones could respond, Jim sucked his cock in as far as he could take it.

Bones groaned and laughed at the same time. Jim smiled around the full feeling in his mouth. He pushed his hands up under Bones’ shirt, feeling Bones twitch and tense as he rubbed over sensitive parts of his stomach and side. Jim felt Bones push one hand in his hair, before it disappeared. Jim looked up to see what Bones was doing, sucking forward and back as he did so. Bones was pulling at his shirt, popping buttons when they wouldn’t open. Jim helped him as best he could, pushing the shirt open, and keeping up the steady pace on his dick.

With a few pushes and pulls, Bones managed to get his shirt off, but his pants were still around his ankles, tangled up in his shoes. Jim moved his hands slowly down to get Bones as naked as possible. He relished the feel of Bones’ hairy legs, the tease of the soft skin underneath the soft but wiry hair. Ever so carefully, and under Bones’ hooded eyes, Jim lifted first one foot and then the other. He pulled off Bones’ shoe, sock and pant leg, until Bones was naked above him, gripping the lube in his hand as he silently watched Jim.

Just as slowly Jim reached up to tug the lube from Bones’ hand, still sucking back and forth. Bones had nearly driven him to come fast using his hand, and Jim planned to tease Bones a bit in retaliation. Bones resisted letting go of the lube, but with a final tug, he released it. Mindful of Bones’ interested gaze, Jim squirted some lube onto his hand, hissing a little as some missed and landed on his thigh, cold and unexpected. Bones let out a little groan as Jim inadvertently used his teeth against him.

Jim coated around the outside of his hole with the lube, choking a little as Bones pushed forward, all the better to see and forcing his dick a bit further down Jim’s throat. Jim pushed in hard with his fingers, loving the burn, knowing that Bones was going to fuck him. This dick that he was lubricating with his spit was soon going to be planted in his ass, deep and hard, he hoped. He groaned at the thought, of how it would feel.

A crash made him open his eyes and look up. Bones had pushed his bag off the bench and before Jim could say anything, Bones had pulled Jim off his dick and up, pushing him back so he had to sit on the bench as Bones spread his legs and pushed them up. Jim scrambled to find a hand hold on the narrow space, somewhere to brace himself, because the look in Bones’ eyes was promising everything that Jim wanted. But then Bones surprised him. He felt Bones’ dick at his entrance, but he didn’t push in straight away, just held himself there for a moment before the tip slowly--agonizingly slowly, pushed in and Jim realized that at some stage, Bones had found a condom and had put it on quickly, hence the little pause before entry as he’d rolled it down his dick.

Jim held his breath, and his legs, as wide as possible to help Bones out, relaxing his muscles as best he could.

“Fuck, Jim!” Bones cried out as the head of his cock breached Jim and then just slid in, as if it couldn’t get in fast enough.

Jim’s fumbling movement for something to hang onto had found the basin tap and he smacked his other hand onto the mirror as Bones slid out and then in again. It hurt, but in all the best ways.

“Hard, Bones! Want it hard!” Jim groaned out, when it seemed that Bones was going to take his time. Bones slid one arm under the base of Jim’s spine, cradling him slightly from the cold, hard bench.

“Jim, your back,” Bones managed to get out.

“Fuck my back! Fuck me!” Jim ordered, beyond caring about the awkward position.

Bones was moving in and out and it felt divine and hot and Jim knew he was going to come soon, just from the burning pleasure. Bones wasn’t even going to need to hit his prostate, it felt that good. Jim wrapped his arm around Bones’ shoulders and pulled him down so they could attempt to kiss as Bones sped up his thrusts.

In and out, the little burn of pain with each movement was what Jim had wanted, needed from Bones. He watched and enjoyed the intensity that Bones was displaying as he attacked their joining.

“Bones!” Jim cried out. “Bones! Bones! Bones!” Jim only could manage to get out his name as Bones made him come, which made him jerk up, bashing back a little into the mirror as he rode out the pleasure, amazed that it didn’t break as his orgasm swept through him.

His positioning didn’t last long, as Bones pulled him forward a little as he chased his own orgasm, wrapping both his arms around Jim as he pushed up hard, again and again. Jim helped as best he could, opening as wide as possible, and bracing his shaking arms on the edge of the bench. It worked for Bones. He opened his mouth and yelled out as he came, thrusting hard into Jim. Even through the condom, Jim could feel Bones pulsing, releasing his come.

Bones leaned them both back so Jim was sitting back on the edge of the bench. He rested his head down on Jim’s shoulder, breathing heavily and causing goosebumps to ghost over Jim’s skin where his breath touched.

“Best fuck ever,” Jim got out as he raised his head up to smile at Bones.

Their situation finally seemed to be occurring to Bones, and Jim could see him start to think.

“Stop it,” Jim ordered as he pressed a gentle kiss to Bones’ cheek.

“Jim, I--”

“I said stop it,” Jim repeated, as he tilted up his hips so Bones could slide out.

Jim put his hand on the base of Bones’ dick, making sure the condom stayed where it was supposed to and wasn’t gripped by his ass that didn’t want to let Bones’ dick loose. Bones slid out, just as reluctantly as Jim felt.

With slightly unsteady legs, Jim dropped off the bench and wrapped his other arm around Bones’ shoulders, pulling him down to kiss him. While Bones was distracted by his tongue, Jim worked the condom off and dropped it into the wastebasket.

“Jim, that wasn’t good for you,” Bones said as he pulled back.

“Did you miss the ‘best fuck ever’ comment?” Jim countered. “Now shut up, kiss me again and then take me to bed. If you think I have sore spots, then you can kiss them better. Even better, kiss them better tomorrow morning and use those magic fingers of yours to make me forget everything.”

Jim had grabbed the lube from where it had been left on the bench and steered Bones back out of the bathroom.

oOo

Finally, Bones had stopped with his little comments and hesitation about whatever it was developing between them. Jim had woken up that morning with Bones in his bed and Bones’ hand on his cock giving him a languid hand job, though it didn’t stay languid very long once Jim was awake.

Jim’s competition was now finally over and he had even managed to get an admittance from Bones the night before that Bones had been attracted to him when they first met, before their friendship had taken over. Bones had scruples and he stuck to them, until Jim had ridden completely roughshod over them.

In public, they had kept up their normal friendship while Jim finished off his competition with the five apparatus finals he had qualified for. He managed to medal in all of them, making him the most successful U.S. gymnast in Olympic history and only behind Alexander Dityatin as the most successful gymnast at an Olympics, who won 8 medals at the 1980 games. Jim had more golds than Alexander though.

In private, once the door closed to the rest of the village, they could hardly keep their hands off each other. Bones proved to be an exceptional lover, or it may have been that Jim was that smitten with him. Jim was man enough to realize that having sex with your best friend made it all the better.

Jim had made a few little hints here and there and mostly not subtle, that he wanted this thing between them not to end once they returned to the Academy. Bones was always non-committal in response, leaving Jim unsure if this was going to continue once they got back home. He didn’t like being unsure.

Jim propped his feet up on the edge of the table as he listened to Pavel and Sulu arguing about what to have for dinner, which was hours away, breaking him away from his introspective thoughts. They were waiting around until they could leave on a shuttle to take them out to the Rhythmic competition at Wembley so they could support Gaila, just as she had supported each of them. It was going to be a while, and none of them seemed to want to stay cooped up in their rooms, so they had all found their way out to the common and then found each other, laughing when they all realized they had all done the same thing.

“Hey,” Jim heard Bones’ voice say from behind him.

Jim turned, surprised to see Bones standing there and smiling at him.

“Thought you would be out at the venue already,” Jim said.

“Leaving in a minute. What are they arguing about now?” Bones asked looking at Pavel and Sulu, who were trying to draw a laughing Uhura into their argument. Spock was standing beside her and remaining silent.

“Does it really matter?” Jim asked.

Bones laughed and put his hand on Jim’s shoulder. “Nope.”

Jim tried not to lean into the touch, but he couldn’t help it.

“They argue like us,” Jim pointed out.

Bones was still smiling down at Jim, and Jim couldn’t figure out what was making Bones so happy.

“Not quite like us,” Bones replied, before doing something that Jim found very surprising.

Bones moved his hand off Jim’s shoulder and down Jim’s arm until he gently grasped Jim’s hand, resting on Jim’s bent knee. Jim froze for the moment. This was a pretty public declaration from Bones. Not blatant, although still subtle enough without being able to be misconstrued.

“Later?” Bones asked.

“What changed?” Jim asked in return, needing to know the answer.

“I hid away once from what I really wanted. I’m not stupid enough to repeat that mistake. Besides, it’s not everyday your...other half has six gold medals and a silver from an Olympic Games,” Bones said as he leaned down closer to Jim. “I think that should be celebrated.”

“Thought we did that last night,” Jim pointed out.

“Was that celebration enough?” Bones had his southern accent out in full force and Jim could already feel his dick jumping a little in anticipation.

“Hell, no. Tease!”

Bones just raised an eyebrow at the accusation from Jim.

“You are about to disappear on me to go help Gaila. Tease!” Jim explained.

“Takes one to know one,” Bones said with a sly smile on his face, before he squeezed Jim’s hand, let go and walked away.

Jim just laughed, shaking his head at the contrary man who was probably going to keep him on his toes for a long time. Good thing he was a gymnast and knew how to balance well.

He glanced over to see the looks being directed his way from the others. Jim just kept smiling. Everything was right with the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all those who have read along and, hopefully, enjoyed this AU, thank you! ;) I hope that you gained a little insight into the world of gymnastics that I was lucky enough to be a small part of for over ten years, and which my family is still heavily involved.

**Author's Note:**

> This was started all the way back in 2009, when a prompt request went up on the STXI Kink meme for a gymnastics au focussing on gymnastics terminology. A certain someone forwarded the request to me and the plot bunnies attacked *glares*. 
> 
> I have worked on this on and off since then and it’s finally done! It’s been in the hands of the beta’s and while the Olympic fervour is still around, I thought it would be timely to post, considering that I had set it during London 2012. There is gymnastics terminology sprinkled through it and we will just pretend that the results we know that actually happened, didn’t really happen. ;)


End file.
